In 1980, Ted Turner launched CNN as a 24/7 news channel in the U.S., then expanded worldwide five years later.

In 1986, the world watched the Space Shuttle Challenger explode in mid-air, killing everyone onboard. In 1990, the Gulf War was broadcast nonstop. In 1994, OJ Simpson’s slow-motion Bronco ride and subsequent murder trial replaced regular daytime soap operas and nighttime sitcoms as ‘entertainment.’

On September 11, 2001, the world watched in real time as planes slammed into our country. And our complacency.

We watched over and over the horror of hatred and man’s inhumanity to man.

And it wasn’t just humans who posed a threat. In 2005, we watched Hurricane Katrina destroy homes, businesses, and lives.

There is never a break.

Fifty-plus years ago, my father would read the morning news religiously. Mama started the coffee pot, and Pop headed down the driveway to get the newspaper, hoping the delivery boy hadn’t thrown it into a puddle of water or into a bush. After a rain, there was a good chance he would have to carefully peel the wet pages apart, hanging them over the back of a chair to dry. He didn’t like it when that happened, but I did because I would have more time to bother him with questions that began with ‘But why?’ or ‘Watch me, Daddy.’

When he got home from work at night, he had an afternoon newspaper to read, followed by the six o’clock news, then the eleven o’clock news.

There were plenty of chances to find out what was going on in the world, but there was also time to breathe. No 24/7 news, no Internet.

Daniel 12:4 says, “…many will rush here and there, and knowledge will increase.”

It does not say wisdom will increase.

I do believe worry does increase. Part of it is the old news reporter saying, ‘If it bleeds, it leads,’ meaning in their quest for more viewers, the focus is on the bad stuff instead of the good.

Humans often focus on the negative, perhaps because of our fight-or-flight response to real or imagined danger. We are wired to worry. We imagine the worst-case scenario over and over.

My imagination frequently goes into overdrive, and I have to consciously limit my news consumption.

Jesus said in Matthew 6:25, “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?”

This morning, I woke up at dawn to the sound of birds chirping. It’s unusual for me to wake up that early, except for my post-menopausal insomnia, so I don’t know if the morning light or the birds woke me. God seems to turn on both at once.

I picture God standing in front of a wall of switches and knobs. He smiles and says, “Watch this!” as he turns on the sunrise and calls the birds. It’s not Biblical, but it makes me smile.

The backyard birds are slowly coming back to our feeders. In the Fall, they travelled down to their winter homes in Mexico and Brazil or an island in the Caribbean.

The hummingbirds are expected to arrive again within the next week or two. The same ones, or their offspring, return each year. Some say their instinct drives them to do this. Maybe, but I don’t think that’s the whole story.

Small green shoots are starting to pop up through the dry brown leaves of long-forgotten plants. They remind me of a small child, defiantly sticking their tongue out, laughing at the deadness of winter.

A dandelion blooms in a sidewalk crack. Flowers sprout on Bradford pear trees. Forsythia and azalea bushes fill in so quickly that we marvel at their growth, even though it happens every year.

Maybe we don’t notice because we’re too caught up in our busyness and worries. We put so much energy into trying to control an uncontrollable, broken world.

But… God shows us that we are not in control. He reveals this through every sunrise, sunset, and spring. He is standing at the switches and knobs, waiting to show us who is in control. And in His mercy, He constantly reminds us that despite our worries, our lack of humanity, and our utter failure at faith, He is still on His throne.

And Abba is completely in charge.

Matthew 6: 26-27: “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 one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”

And despite wars and rumors of wars, He didn’t forget me. Or you. Ever.