Want Nothing

Have you ever thought about the difference that a three-letter word can make in a sentence … or in your life?

Think about these phrases: Want for nothing – OR want nothing.

As parents and grandparents we work very hard to make sure that our children and our grandchildren want for nothing. We try very hard to predict what they will need and when they will need it, and then we set out to make that happen. Over the years, we get pretty good at it.

But what about the phrase “want nothing?”

That’s a little harder to do.

The words of Matthew 6 counter the consumer society that we live in. They remind us not to worry about our lives, about what we will drink or what we will wear.

“Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they?”

All of us, even the vainest among us, are encouraged to look at the flowers in the field and learn from the way that they grow. We are reminded that they do not “work or spin,” and that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them.

Simply put, God will provide for us.

So we are bidden, “Do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’” in the blessed assurance that our heavenly Father knows that we “need them all.”

Instead, we are to “seek first the kingdom (of God) and His righteousness,” and then all these things will be given to us.

We are instructed, “Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.”

What lovely words. What wonderful feelings of strength and courage they evoke.

In a desk drawer at The Message office, I keep a wrinkled piece of paper with a prayer written by St. Teresa of Avila.

Let nothing disturb thee.

Let nothing affright you.

All things are passing.

God only is changeless.

Patience gains all things.

Who hath God wanteth nothing.

There have been many days when I’ve opened that desk drawer, read the words, and shrugged away the possibilities of letting nothing disturb me or frighten me.

There have been fewer days when I’ve read the prayer, and considered the possibilities of, in St. Theresa’s words, wanting nothing.

We need to learn to want nothing because if we can live the words of Matthew 6, God our Father – Who loves us so much – will make sure that we want for nothing.