Are you the type of person who plans everything out to a T? When my mind is idle, it veers toward planning and evaluating. When I was a young man, this happened more often. But this habit is not just for the young. The need to plan comes from a desire to control—and it can affect people of all ages. We think, “If I could just make sure my future looks this way… then I’ll have peace” — but usually, obsessive planning has the opposite effect. The more we fixate on what needs to happen, according to us, the more we try to control, the more anxious we become.

The solution to this is simple. Matthew 6:25-27 in the Bible says, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”

The answer, of course, is no. Worrying about the future, or fixating on what we want to control will not improve our lives. Only putting our trust in the Creator can bring us real peace. This is Luis Palau.