Cast Your Cares

I am a natural worrier.  Many people may not know that about me because I am selective about who I talk to about my worries.  The majority of my worries revolve around my future, typically around things like my kids, finances, jobs, and my life's calling, just to name a few.  If I don't keep my mind in check, it is incredibly easy to go to a place of worry, frustration, or even depression.  If I allow myself to go to a negative place of worry, typically I find more things to worry about.  It can be a vicious cycle if I allow it.  I have had to learn, and continue to have to learn, to redirect my thoughts when they start to go to that place of worry.
I was reading a verse today that I have often gone to when I am worried, many of you may know it as it is something that is thrown around in an almost cliche way in Christian circles.  It is 1 Peter 5:7, which is the verse about "Casting your cares".  I love the Amplified Version's translation of this verse.  "casting all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully]."  I love that version because it refers to your anxieties, worries, and concerns.  Who doesn't have some of those?  I certainly do.  It seems like as soon as one of my concerns or worries has been taken care of, another one always pops up.  However, we are supposed to cast those cares.
I did a little digging on that word "cast".  Just like you may think, its root is a fishing term.  It comes from the Hebrew word ṭûl.  It means to pitch or reel.  If you think about fishing, when you cast your line you never drop it right in front of you.  The whole goal of casting your line is to get it as far out as possible.  I think it's interesting that this is the term used in this verse.  We are not only to drop our worries and anxieties, but we are to "cast" them on Him (this is referring to Christ).
The second part of this verse is also incredibly comforting.  It says He cares about us.  If you reread the Amplified Version it says with deepest affection and watches over you very carefully.  He knows what we are going through, he loves us with a deep affection.  You would never allow someone that you have a deep affection for (think your kids or spouse), without knowing that it will be for their benefit.  For example, when my girls were learning to walk, and the youngest is working on that right now, I allow them to fall from time to time.  They get so frustrated sometimes and may even cry and throw a fit, however, I know that every time they try and even when they fail they are building the muscles necessary to be able to walk.  If they don't build those muscles, they will never be able to step out on their own and walk.  It is the same way with us.  Every single time we want to grow into the next stage of our journey with Him, we may fall and throw a fit or two.  But he has a deep affection for us and knows exactly when to let us fall and when to come pick us up.
I struggle with the casting part.  I may set those cares down for a few minutes, but if it isn't fixed in the few moments that I have the patience to wait, I reel it back in and continue to carry that burden on my own.  I recently heard someone said "take care" as I was leaving.  I have decided that I am going to quit "taking care" and I am going to start "casting my cares".  Every time I start reeling that care back in, I'm going to focus on casting that care back out as far as possible
rather than picking back up that worry, knowing that God will take care of me.
"Give your burdens to the LORD, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall." Psalm 55:22 NLT.
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