I used to have a coworker who would tell me, “Be good to yourself, John.”
At the time, I was in college—dealing with my first real wave of anxiety—and I didn’t fully understand what she meant. I thought it was surface-level advice… take it easy, relax, treat yourself better.
But looking back, she meant something deeper:
Stop beating yourself up with unnecessary worry.
Today, I watched a palm tree swaying in the wind. It moved freely—completely unaffected by me. The wind didn’t ask for my permission. The tree didn’t need my help.
Then there’s a rose bush in my backyard that keeps catching my eye when I pour my morning coffee. I didn’t plant it. I haven’t nurtured it. Yet it grows, blooms, and shows up exactly as it’s meant to.
So what’s the connection?
“Be good to yourself” isn’t about comfort—it’s about releasing control.
This world is moving under God’s command, not mine. The wind blows, the tree bends, the rose grows—and none of it requires my interference. I don’t know why these things happen. God does.
So why do I think my worry adds anything?
Why do I believe that trying to control the uncontrollable will somehow improve the outcome?
It doesn’t.
It only creates one thing:
self-inflicted torment.
Being good to yourself means stepping out of that cycle. It means trusting that not everything needs your grip—some things just need your surrender.
“Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?” — Luke 12:25
Prayer
Lord, help me to release what was never mine to control. Quiet my mind when it begins to wander into worry, and remind me that You are already at work in all things. Teach me to trust You more, and to be good to myself by resting in Your peace. Amen.
