Anxiety

Anxiety

Anxiety is nothing less than the physiological effects of worry on the body and mind, and worry comes from being overwhelmed with the unknown, and thereby gripped and paralyzed with fear. For this, there is only one solution, and that is simply to acquiesce and accept what is and what shall be. Much of life’s anxiety comes because we are so set upon changing what will not change, or hoping against hope. Like a man who tries to move a stubborn stump from his yard, the one who lives life overwhelmed with anxiety and worry expends all their energy each day hoping to remove the stump, only to see the stump in the same place each morning when they awake. The one who will find peace must learn to be content with the stump, instead of spending all their energy worrying and trying to remove it. Paul said, I have learned that in whatever state I find myself to be content. Contentment oftentimes involves accepting those things that are not going to change, as though they are meant to be! As Paul awaited his immediate departure from this world, he had come to understand that it was the natural order and progression of things and ultimately of life itself, and so he embraced it, and yearned for it, instead of fighting it. If you want to deal with much of the anxiety in your life, quit spending all your energy trying to change that which will not change, instead of working to remove the stump, pull up a chair, and place your coffee cup upon it, and see the beauty which surrounds it instead!

 

Rev. Joel M McDuffie Jr.

8/7/2017