Most people describe me as laid-back. I love adventures and change. Many people I look up to are “go with the flow”, “live life to the full”, types. I confess though, if I’m not careful my mind can turn into an avalanche of anxiousness, growing into an unbridled ball of worry that is unstoppable.

Here in our country things are safer and more comfortable than ever. Admittedly I am fortunate enough to be born, raised and live in safe/relatively wealthy areas of the country and I’m well-aware there are plenty of areas of poverty and danger in America.

We Have It Good, so why do we worry?

For the most part though, things are way better than in the past. Roads and cars are safer, foods and drugs are safely regulated, modern medicine and vaccinations have made outbreaks and disease rare. We have immense freedoms (career-path, religion, travel, etc.) A wealth of entertainment and information is available at our finger tips. Yet, even with all these benefits we are as worried and anxious as ever.

“The average high school kid today has the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the early 1950s.”

– psychologist Robert Leahy

If you look carefully enough you can see it in peoples faces. The weight of worry pulls and drags through every decision and step. If you don’t see it in others you can feel it in yourself.

A weight.

A burden.

A chain.

The author in Proverbs confirms that “worry weighs a person down.”

Prov. 12:25

One of favorite illustrations Jesus ever gives is when he references birds and how they constantly find food and provision without planning or worrying. He says that

“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?”

Matt. 6:26

That’s always been so beautiful to me. Birds are flying around, doing what birds do, and without strategy or extreme intelligence they find their way. They are cared for. Sure, that does not mean birds have a picture-perfect life or everything always go well for them.

Lion King

The Lion King taught me a cool song about the circle of life but I was horrified to learn a couple of years later that essentially meant that animals were constantly trying to eat and kill each other. (Also birds fly into glass windows a lot, so that is not ideal.) There seems to be an ease of life to animals though.

We can’t know what they are thinking but you get the idea that there is some deep understanding of a simple life. They don’t concern themselves with the past or future, failures or successes, they just live how they have been created to live. There seems to be an understanding that they were created for certain purposes and that through life and death, things are taken care of.

More Than Birds

The application of course then is God, the creator and father, cares immensely more about you and me than the birds of the air. If he makes sure that they are provided for, how much more will we be provided for?

We worry about our futures, about our treasures and possessions. We stress about our status and what others think of us. You have to wonder how much more fulfilling, joyful, and productive our lives would be if we could live in peace and in rest.

Things I’m Doing

• Letting go of my desire for the approval of others. This is strong in me, I want others to see how great (successful, well-established, talented) I am.
• Letting go of unreal expectations of myself.
• Starting the day with prayer and writing. Focusing on a caring Father.
• Getting away from social media and constant noise at times. Finding silence and solitude.
• Remembering those who have been born in poverty, oppression, or violence. Remembering all the things I have been blessed with.
• Meditating on the fact that we all die. Circumstances, whether good or bad will fade away. This too shall pass.

We all deal with it. It’s hard. Easier said than done but how about we all agree to chill out.