Free and easy

It feels like being stressed and anxious, or at the very least overly busy, has become the default setting for our world today.  Just recently I was trying to spend some time in the morning with the Lord, but all my mind could think about was all the things I had to do that day.  As I finally slowed down, I was reminded by God that he is just as much with me in my fears, stress and anxiety and that he truly wants me to bring those to him.  I felt him remind me: “Just breathe, relax, know that I am with you and you are loved.  Just be with me and don’t worry about anything right now.” 

My response to him was something along the lines of, “Yeah, but God, I don’t think you realize all the things I have to do today and all the stressful things going on right now!”  Again, I felt His presence and His gentle reminder not to worry about tomorrow (which is a lot of the stress I put on myself).  He reminded me that his yoke is easy and his burden is light—not because we won’t deal with hard things—but because he shares the yoke with us, is much stronger than us and can handle much more than we can.  He reminded me that I still am trying to carry and control so many things I am not meant to carry and he wants me to continue to bring those things to Him so he can take on that burden.

One of the big contributors to my own stress is worrying about my kids and how they’ll turn out someday.  I feel like as parents, we have this finite window of a few years and then we send them out into this big scary world and they’ll either sink or swim.  And it’s my job as a parent to equip them with everything they need and to give them enough discipline.  Can God really take care of them once I no longer have them in my “control” and living with me?  What does my fear over their health and well-being in the future tell me about how I view God?  And how would it free me up if I really believed that God will take care of them?

In his wonderfully practical book, Practicing the Way, John Mark Comer shares a story about a conversation he had recently with his wife.  He expressed his frustration over his own struggle with anxiety and getting too stressed and asked her if she thought he’d ever mature past this.  She replied, “Of course.  I’m positive. I think you’ll become deeply happy and calm.”  He asked her how much longer, to which she said, “’I’d guess in your 60’s.”  She wasn’t trying to be funny, that was her best estimate. And she’s likely right.”

I have no doubt in my mind that John Mark Comer is someone who is pursuing Jesus (after all he wrote several books on apprenticeship to Jesus and helps others do that for a living).  Even he acknowledges that change can feel painfully slow and often take decades to see real transformation, especially in the challenging areas of stress and anxiety. 

I only say that to remind us to be kind to ourselves on this journey.  We all have our things we have a hard time letting go of.  We all have our own hard things we are going through.  The cancer diagnosis, the unexpected passing of a loved one or partner, the painful divorce, seeing your kids make decisions that hurt themselves, afflictions to those around us that we can’t control or fix…the list goes on.  It’s no wonder anxiety levels are at all-time highs.  And often our response is to try to numb it and tune it out by staying extra busy, distracting ourselves with phones or binge watching shows so we don’t have to think about it or address it.

Yet in the midst of all of it, we are invited to come and abide in our Good Father who sees us, who has lived through hard things and can relate to all of it with us.  Not only can meet us in our stresses and anxieties, but he can actually take those things that we are holding onto that we aren’t meant to carry.  That yoke is easy and the burden is light.  I know that by the time tomorrow morning comes, I will have the same normal worries and concerns, as well as a fresh set of something to ruminate on.  I’ll continue to wonder why I’m still stressing and anxious and wonder if I’ll ever outgrow this or mature past it.  And yet, God’s invitation doesn’t change: “Just breathe, relax, and know I am with you and you are loved.  Just be with me and don’t worry about anything right now.” 

May we learn to practice that just a little more today, and slowly, ever so slowly, may it continue to change us into being freer, less stressed people who are yoked to Jesus so we can bring that same gift to the world.

-Matt