I meet many people who tell me that they struggle with anxiety. We live in a climate where it is hard not to be anxious. There is growing concern about another wave of the Covid pandemic as Christmas and holidays approach. The hard economic time we are in, the pressure at this time of the year to buy gifts for families and friends, strained or breaking relationships, illness, political instability as the local municipalities are
all pretty much compromised by political manoeuvring. The list goes on.
Jesus does not want to negate our anxieties. He, too, felt anxiety in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus is encouraging us to be aware of how our anxieties or focus on other things can cause us to miss out on what is most important for us: his coming into our lives. In this text, Jesus is speaking specifically of his second coming. However, Jesus does come into our lives every day in different ways – through the grace of love and
friendship, in beautiful sunrises and sunsets, in affirming and kind words, in smiles and good deeds. There are many opportunities, each day, in which we can and will experience the Lord if we are seeking the Lord’s presence.
Yet, we can often miss out on the God-bathed moments of the day because we are anxious about what will happen next. Often, we discover that what we are anxious about doesn’t overwhelm us. Sometimes too, what we are most worried about we do not have any control over either! We can be anxious about the Covid pandemic or the political or economic situation, but there is very little that we can do in the greater scheme of things. We
can do our part, wear masks, for example, or use our money wisely, but we cannot individually fix the economy or end the pandemic.
Jesus invites us to see things from God’s perspective. The spiritual writer, Richard Rohr, says that we have looked at God for too long rather than looked from God. Jesus does not want us to get caught up in our own anxieties and miss what is important or, as he says, be caught unaware. He invites us to live daily, in the midst of our anxieties, deeply conscious of God at work in us and around us.
What anxiety are you carrying today? Can you really do something about it, or is it out of your control? How might your fear rob you of being conscious of God’s presence in you and around you? Ask God to help you let go of your anxieties and see from God’s perspective.
