I’ve found myself in a welcome season of a lot more stillness recently. Truth be told, I wish I was hardwired for something like gratitude or reflection or remembrance when things get quiet and still around me.
But more often, the first thing that creeps in is a spiral of worry and I find it challenging to quiet my mind. What ifs about the future, wondering about things that haven’t even happened yet loudly bombard the quiet space in my mind. When I’m not intentional with my quiet and still times, anxiety sends me spiraling.
This is probably one of the reasons I like to stay busy….but busyness and distraction aren’t the true solution.
The real antidote to our anxiety is fixing our minds on the God who remembers me and is trustworthy is. I’ve proved it!
When my family moved to the United States after 15 years of living and serving in Uganda, we felt depleted. Like we had poured out everything we had and left the very best of ourselves there in the red dirt. Sometimes I still feel that way.
When we moved, it felt impossible to count all the differences between American culture and life overseas, but the thing that caught me off guard more than anything was the pace. Everything and everyone was moving so fast, and I felt the pressure of the expectation to keep up.
But Jesus was never in a hurry to my knowledge. Even when He was on His way to heal someone, He had time to be interrupted. Even when one of His closest friends was on His deathbed, He waited a few days before heading that way.
As Jesus’s followers, we are called to live like Him. I’ve been studying three simple practices of Jesus that help us fight against hurry, chaos, and exhaustion and focus our gaze and our hearts on Him.
1. We stay in communication with our Father.
Through the Gospels, we see Jesus take time away from His ministry to go and be with God. He stops, before, during, and after ministry to pray, both publicly and privately. He take time to be still before His Father.
How often have we bought into the lie that we are just too busy to spend extended time with God? I know I have.
But we cannot offer what we do not have. If we are not spending time asking God to restore our joy, we won’t bring laughter and joy to others. If we aren’t spending time receiving His love for us, we won’t be able to pour out a love that reflects His character.
Real, connected, intimate time with the Father is the number one key to pushing back the anxiety and chaos surrounding us.
2. We practice being present.
Jesus was extremely present during His life here on earth. When someone stops Jesus to ask Him a question, He pauses what He is doing to answer. He sees the woman at the well and He pauses to talk to her. He feels the woman with the issue of blood grab His hem and He stops to find her, to look her in the eyes, to bless her.
I have come to see that a large source of my anxiety is that I am either living in the past or in the future. I know I am not the only one who does this.
But what if I truly believed that God has provided me with everything I need to live in this moment right now? The fullness of His presence and provision is right here, completely available to me.
And the way I access it is to pause. To quiet my mind. To speak to Him, and to engage with the people and the places and the tasks that are right in front of me. We can be present right here, right now and faithfully do what He is calling us to today, because we know He alone takes care of tomorrow.
3. And lastly, we set our minds on eternity.
During his time on earth, Jesus was constantly reminding His disciples that He didn’t just come to save us, but also that He is going to prepare a place for us. Even as death drew bear Jesus, He fixed His eyes on something better–an eternal Kingdom with His Father, and with you and me.
What if we could do the same?
We have an eternal promise and it is this: That hurt that is overwhelming right now! It will be replaced with joy. That broken relationship? It will be restored. That deep ache? It will be filled. That thing that feels so all consuming? It will be consumed by the goodness, love and mercy of God.
And this is what we are called to focus on! This is what we fix our eyes and our hearts and our minds on!
I have tasted and I have seen that He is good. Let’s look to the life of Jesus as we endeavor to serve Him and those around us. He will hold our hands and He will stay with us all the way home.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4:6
