“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” —Philippians 4:6-7
Sometimes the Bible seems incredibly unhelpful. Like when the Apostle Paul says, “Do not be anxious about anything.” Really, Paul? Have you watched the news? Do you have children of your own? Are you aware of the divides separating God’s people today?
How could we not be anxious?
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the things I’m holding on to so, so tightly. After Elijah broke his leg as we were hiking in Banff National Park, all these anxieties rushed to the surface: How will we get him home from Canada? Will he tolerate the anesthesia during surgery? Will his leg heal completely? Will he fall behind academically? Will his friends rise to the occasion?
Each was a legitimate question. And most of the answers were outside of my control. However, that didn’t keep me from clinging fiercely to these anxieties, as if I could solve them by obsessing over them. But all I managed to do was miss some incredible growth in Elijah and let some profound movements of the Spirit go unnoticed. Squeezing tightly to anxiety left my hands closed to the grace of God. Focusing on my fears with tunnel vision kept me from noticing how God was at work.
There is an approach to prayer that addresses this tendency we all have. It’s called Welcoming Prayer, and it invites the Holy Spirit to do a transforming work within us. This prayer recognizes that we often have an unhealthy attachment to things like safety and security, affection and esteem, control, and change. In short, we obsess about things that are largely out of our control and in doing so, anxiously shut out God.
In Matthew 6:8, Jesus reminds us that God knows what we need and is already accomplishing these things on our behalf. If we can trust this to be true, we can let go of our need to achieve security, esteem, control, and change for ourselves. We can let go of that anxiety and open our hearts to the Spirit. Letting go of unhealthy attachment is a way of consenting to God’s presence and action in our lives.
I’m pretty sure Paul understands how hard it is to release our anxieties. Yet he also knows the joy of living an ordinary life with extraordinary love. As we loosen our attachment to the things God can be trusted to provide, we invite the Spirit’s transformation for the sake of others and to the glory of God. When we feel anxious and sense our hands gripping more tightly, let us release these attachments into God’s hands and breathe in a fresh wind of the Spirit. The more we practice this, the more we’ll grow in trust, compassion, and love.
Grace upon grace,
Scott
