What do I do with all this worry?

A rising high school junior, a rising college junior and a rising postgraduate student all drive off in a jeep with a U-Haul hitched to the back.

I wish I had a funny story to follow what sounds like the set-up for a joke.

Instead, I am sitting with the chant “Jesus, I trust in you,” the reminder that “God is faithful,” and the prayer “the battle belongs to the Lord.”

Those three students in that vehicle are my three sons, and they’ve embarked on a trek to California where the oldest will live for a year to attend Naval Postgraduate School. I love their excitement for this “brother road trip,” and I’m trying really hard to stay in that space of enthusiasm for them. Desperately endeavoring to suppress the anxiety and irrational fear I have over this, I began the morning of their trip with a rosary, then went out to our driveway with A Blessing for an Automobile and a bottle of Holy Water. I diligently blessed every tire, even the spare, the steering wheel, every seat and door with the sign of the cross, and then the entire trailer and jeep with a heavy sprinkle of Holy Water.“Jesus, I trust in You.” 

What do I do with all of this worry?

My current distress falls in the shadow of so many situations that loom large for others: families worried for their loved ones with life-threatening health conditions, global disquiet, babies fighting cancer battles that seem grossly unfair.

The answer is the same for all of these worries: “Give it to God.”

Believing in this, reminding ourselves how big and great our God is, doesn’t relinquish us from the responsibility of the faithful – to remain active in that faith and to love and to trust. We are to remember who is in the boat with us in the middle of these storms.

This Sunday, June 29, is the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. Paul was really good at resting in the peace of the Holy Spirit no matter how dire his circumstances. Peter’s faith carried him atop the water…until he took his eyes off of Jesus.

Let us look to these saints who show us how to hand over our worry, anxiety and fear to God. Like Paul, we can wholly trust that God is present even in the darkest trials. And like Peter, we learn that faith keeps us afloat—so long as wekeep our eyes on Jesus, not the storm.