Skip to main content

Dear Anxiety

Dear Anxiety,

The last time we talked you droned on and on about the beauty of black.  Like the wearing of tight fitting pants that appear to make one slimmer, this blackness is supposed to shield me from the outside world.  But isn’t it true that for all your sleek postures, you are an insidious threat to my comfort.  The way you elevate the few things that I enjoy in life and turn them into shields against the tough edges of life makes me ill.  Yet, what would I do without you to coat my insecurity with false hope?

The unknowingness of life zaps the confidence I have in relationships at times.  One husband, one father dies in a gruesome wreck, what will happen next?  Will many die upon that same road?  The shock of feeling unable to help but feeling overwhelmed at the pain is raw and acute.  Yet, what am I to do with the razor sharp anxiousness of the unknowing next?  A spiritual pill, a modicum of faith, will this do the trick and turn the page on hurt street?

Whether the hurts release into the thick air or stay just a little long as a young mother takes her child to kindergarten waiting for his safe arrival, anxiety you are here by my side.  But I guess the extraordinary thing about you, O baron of exhaustion, is that you have a way of heightening my craziness in times of insignificance but remain aloof in the nitty gritty moments of life and death.  Yes, it will be alright, God, for your little one right in my midst to not always raise her tone at the end of a question. 


At the precipice of despair, anxiety produces both an insulating and maniacal verse in my life.  I don’t wish for this on anyone, but I believe at times anxiousness helps us realize that we are not dealing with life as it is.  Maybe, just maybe, this truth points us back to hope. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Saving Casper

Saving Casper: A Christian and an Atheist Talk about Why We Need to Change the Conversion Conversation by Jim Henderson and Matt Casper http://www.amazon.com/Saving-Casper-Christian-Conversion-Conversation/dp/1414364881 Many readers will quickly know the authors of this book from their previous release Jim and Casper Go to Church.  Jim and Matt’s new book entitled Saving Casper focuses on the way we talk about conversion in the church and the devastating ways we have pushed away atheists and other non-believers by our posture.  Both Jim and Matt traversed the national landscape, meeting in churches and asking hard questions about faith, conversion, and life. The basic premise of the book and travel is laid out here in their words, “Part of what Casper and I are trying to achieve when we speak to a group of Christians is to help people move a little bit on their “judgment meter.”  This capacity, while intellectually and often theologically uncomfortable,...

Essential Christian Doctrine

  Essential Christian Doctrine , General Editor John MacArthur Pastor John MacArthur has for years been teaching the Word of God in both pulpit ministry, books, and conferences with an aim to displaying God’s revelation to his listeners in a winsome and foundational manner.  This new book, Essential Christian Doctrine takes an entire life of teaching and preaching and encapsulates the main contours of the Christian faith for its readers.  John in a systematic way highlights the most necessary teachings from Scripture including God’s Word, the Trinity, while also including sections on Man and the Future. One of the most helpful ways the authors bring to light biblical truth and theology is the way in which they group together particular themes.  In the section on the Holy Spirit, instead of a complex discussion of personhood, word pictures of the Holy Spirit are introduced in a discernible and profitable manner.  The metaphors for the Holy Spirit include fir...

God's Grace for All of Life

The Romance of Grace by Jim McNeely III To be honest, when I received this book in the mail I had visions of what it might be like with a title like, ‘The Romance of Grace.’  The emotional rollercoaster and one-sided perspective on how our emotions fuel our faith was my presumption about the book, but this was the furthest thing from the truth as I started reading.  The Romance of Grace by Pastor Jim McNeely III is a careful look at the movements of grace in the way God pursues us with his love and his desire to get us to love him back.  McNeely writes, “We are entering a cosmic romance with a passionate lover, and He is interested in our heart’s truest desire.  His deepest objective isn’t to make us more moral; it is to get us to love Him back.  Virtue is the fruit, not the root” (18).  Why is this helpful?  For one thing, beginning with God’s initiating grace frees us from starting out on the wrong foot in the way we tell the story and...