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Anxiety


                When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. (Psalm 56:3)
                        “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? 26 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 why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:25-34)
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.  Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (I Peter 5:6-8)
                These verses are from a Bible study I joined yesterday. We’re going through a series of lessons by Max Lucado called, Be Anxious For Nothing. I suspect there are some people who aren’t anxious types, but they’re few and far between. I tend toward anxiety. I’ve shared before that I can worry about nothing – literally, Nothing! I can recognize that I am going through the motions of worrying without having any content to that worry, and not be able to stop worrying. In fact, it could be said that I joined the study on worrying because as I go through this transition in my life, I’m worried that I’ll worry, so I’m trying to be proactive, to prepare to face anxiety when it rears its ugly head. Can I get an “Oh brother!”?
          Let me share a few tidbits from yesterday. Mr. Lucado did a good job with definitions.
          Anxiety is not so much the onslaught of a storm as the continual threat that one is coming. It’s a big heap of “what ifs.”
         The word anxiety actually comes from a Latin root that means “to choke” or “to squeeze.” 
         Fear screams “get out!” It’s about fight or flight (and I would add, “or freeze”) Anxiety asks “What if.” It’s about doom and gloom
                Then one of my friends pointed out something about what if?s.  They make us feel smart, important, and responsible.  I would add superior and delusional because we think we’re at least trying to exercise control. “See? I’m not one of those Pollyanna sorts who goes about with my head in the clouds. I’m getting ready to take the bull by the horns and give it a cage-match style body slam. Or, at least, I will if I rehearse it for long enough in my head and get the details all figured out in case the bull shows up.”
            There’s a difference between being anxious and considering possibilities. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with saving for a rainy day or being prepared for emergencies. The danger is that we will give the rainy day and the emergency authority in our lives. Perhaps the one thing worse than giving the rainy day and the emergency authority in our lives is giving anxiety or worry authority in our lives. I think that’s the real struggle for me. One of my goals is to learn to recognize anxiety when it’s sneaking up on me and to recognize it for what it is, rather than to writhe for a week in the clutches of what might be before I realize that the cell door is open.

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