As people age they tend to worry more than they should. They worry about their health. They worry about their kids and grandkids. They worry about their finances. They worry about the future of the nation.
The Greek word for worry is merimnaō.
Interestingly, the word can have both positive and negative connotations depending on the context. For example, in Phil. 2:20, Paul uses the term positively. "I have no one else who worries about you more than Timothy," he says. Here, worry is commendable. It is commendable because it grows out of true concern for others. I imagine this is how you felt if you were the parents of a high schooler in Winder, GA, when you learned that there had been a shooting at the school. That kind of worry would be most understandable. In fact, without such concern I would wonder about your love for your children.
But there's another kind of worry, the kind that has no business being a part of our lives. Paul refers to this kind of worry in Phil. 4:6. Using the very same verb he used earlier to describe Timothy, he now uses it with the negative connotation of unreasonable anxiety or harrowing care. Thus Paul can say to the Philippians, "Don't worry about anything, but pray about everything." He's referring to the kind of worry we all know so well -- the anxiety that strangles us and chokes us and eats away at us.
I wish I were a marvelous model of a man who practices the right kind of worry, but I'm not. The other day I told someone, "I'm worried about you," intending my words to convey the force of "I care about you deeply and I'm so anxious for your wellbeing." But even as I spoke those words, in my heart there was a churning, an "unreasonable anxiety." I had begun to fret about something neither I nor they had any control over.
Maybe this is why Paul immediately brings up the topic of prayer. Because of our anxieties, God says "Bring them to me. Let me handle them. Exchange your worry for my peace." I challenge every one of us to make a habit of doing that regularly. Our worry list should never be longer than our prayer list. They ought to be of equal length. Let each worry be matched by a specific petition to the Supreme Person of the universe who cares about every concern we could ever bring to him.