Anxiety in Uncertain Times

When he first came to me, he was certain his life was over.

This was his last “Hail Mary”.  A fleeting prayer for his dying body.

It wasn’t cancer that was taking him early.  It was 10 years of hard drugs and bad memories.

But sometimes, one last chance is all you need.  And through vigorous discipline, reflection, and medication assistance, he was able to pull through.

Now he has a growing family and a steady job.  Instead of a broken past, he has an unlimited future.

These are crazy times.  But we’ll get through them.  Some of us will have more scars on the other side.  But these scars will tell a story of our survival and our memory of those that matter most.

If you’re struggling with anxiety because of all that’s happening around you and to you….

I want you to take a minute to reflect.

In our mind, we create an image.  This is our imagination.  It is our will that determines what becomes of the image.

Too often, our days are spent with worry about what’s to become.  We create suffering and then make it worse by prolonging the agony of our inner thoughts.

In the book of Matthew, Jesus tells people to let tomorrow worry about itself.

This sounds obvious but it’s too difficult.  Surely he has more advice than just that.

Well in fact, he does.

The verse before that one goes like this:

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well

—Matthew 6:33

It seems that the key to anxiety is in the ordering of our lives.

What’s our value system?

What’s at the top?

You see, we tend to worry more when we forget just who God is.

Now don’t get me wrong, I know there are things we need.  Like toilet paper, surgical masks, hand sanitizer, and bread.

But I just wanted to remind you of something else Jesus said….

Man does not live by bread alone….

but by every breath from the word of God.

This universe is held together by a God greater than our imagination, greater than our worries, greater than any virus.

God is.

And we are.

And in that image we go forth.

To shine a little light in a darkened world.

So fear not.

And let tomorrow worry about itself.