No! DO NOT FRET! There's zero reasons to fret except OK, if you're playing guitar then yes, certainly fret, but that's not the same thing, and it goes without saying (although it appears that I am in fact saying it) fretting or worrying about everything will not help you solve anything. NO FRETTING are we clear?
It's been a few years now since I adopted the hard line approach to "Don't Worry Be Happy". I've changed that moniker up a bit to "Don't Worry Be Joyful" as I strongly believe that being happy is based on an unpredictable emotion, while being joyful is often a laborious choice! (You don't know this, but the Celtic in me wants to add a "u" to words like labourious, flavour, and favourite.) LET IT GO - - no amount of worrying is going to make you happy, but it can give you ulcers, stress you to the point of gaining weight, or having another physical ailment that can lead to permanent damage in your body, mind, and spirit.
OK, easy peasy, ready? Grab a Bible if there's one handy near you, and turn to the Psalms. If you don't have a full Bible, but maybe a small New Testament it will still probably have the Psalms within it. Turn to Psalms 37 and skim it, you don't have to read it or memorize it, but do skim it. The first verse (paraphrased) says "Hey, you, yeah, I'm talking to YOU, do not worry about it." The "IT" in this case is every it, every single it there was back in the day, is today, or will be tomorrow. You have an it, don't let it worry you. IT belongs to God, HE is the one saying to you DO NOT FRET. Carry on, read a bit further, no chapter is just one verse. The third verse of Psalms 37 reads in part, (and also paraphrasing, since I can't possibly know which translation you have in your hands), TRUST GOD. let go of it and JUST TRUST GOD with it. Don't think about it again, don't bring it back up tomorrow, trust God and Him alone, that He will in fact settle the matter. Here is why; are you ready? Verses 4 and 5 say He will. It literally says if you delight yourself in God, if you commit yourself to Him, HE (not you) will bring it to pass. He, NOT YOU, will make it happen. Now, get a pretty colored pencil or pen and make a wee picture for your corkboard so you can remember this. Draw hearts and shooting stars around the border, pin the note to the corkboard and remind yourself EVERY SINGLE DAY to not not not fret. You can't. If you think about it fretting is a sin. Sin is bad. Fret not.
When I decided to live my life this way you wouldn't believe all the crap that Satan tried to throw my way. Job after job was lost for this reason or that. I was a teacher, and it just seemed every semester there was someone in administration wanting me terminated. Month after month I was brought up for review and called in for questioning. I was lied about by teachers, other staffers, parents, even kids sometimes and year after year I was either suspended for something I didn't do and had to prove it wasn't true, or I was actually terminated and had to force the district into a hearing to prove I was not doing what I was being accused of. (Most of the time I was called a racist for failing a kid who chose not to work, but there were other issues such as swearing at a child, calling a kid stupid, or something similar.) The allegations were always fabricated, but having to defend one's reputation over and over again can be daunting. How do you fix that? You don't. You let God fix that, and if you follow the recipe set out in Psalms 37 you'll come out on the right and best side EVERY time.
God never said that being a Christian would be an easy thing to do. In fact, you may remember that several of Jesus' followers were either beheaded, crucified, or in John's case, stuck in a pot of oil and then exiled for the rest of his life. Daniel found himself staring down a pack of large cats. Jonah got swallowed by a big fish, and look at poor NOAH. C'mon, show a little love for the original animal rescuer, will ya? Do you think for a MINUTE that Noah fretted? Yes, he did, it's actually written that he did, but the point is, God said NOT TO. In Noah's defense, Psalms was actually written way after the flood. But in every case throughout God's word, if you don't mind reading it for yourself, God wins. God takes care of every single detail whether we fret or not because that's what He does. So if God is going to take care of the details whether we worry about the details, doesn't it make sense (and I mean a whole lotta sense) to just not get your panties in a twist, and LET GO to LET GOD have IT?
So, in summary fret when you pick strings, otherwise...don't.
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