We’ve been talking a lot about living lives that are free from worry and resting in the outstetched arms of our Creator God, who is always ready to catch us and shoulder our burdens. For the next few days, I want to give you three practical steps you can take to lessen the grip that worry holds on your life. The first one is eat the frog.

Mark Twain said that if you eat a live frog first thing in the morning, everything else you do will seem easy. To take it a step further, he said that if you have two frogs, it is best to eat the bigger one first. No matter how you apply it, the idea is that when you have something that’s bothering or burdening you, it’s best to get it done first; get it out of the way so that it won’t be draining your battery.

I used to apply this principle when I was in high school and the teacher would assign a big project. While everyone would sign up for the last time slots, I would always sign up first, for two reasons. Number one, teachers will never give worse than a “C” to the person who signs up first (and C’s make degrees, right?). And number two, it was always great to have my project done and out of the way when everyone else was still stressing and fretting about theirs.

Friends, the only time Jesus hurried was on His way to the cross; that was the frog He had to eat. Similarly, if you have a frog in your life, eat it now; don’t wait. Face the things you fear, get them out of the way and watch as worry loses its power over you.