worry, anxiety, fretting, and panicking

Worrying, being anxious, fretting, panicking.More than once I have witnessed men and women who lived through the Great Depression save everything, every Cool Whip bowl, every rubber band, every bread bag twisty, every old nail, every old tooth brush; cup boards full, boxes stacked high, bags and pails in the attic or deep under house. It is tough for us to understand, us who live in a throw away culture, us who are collectively and chronically overweight. Worry inspired by hunger, anxiety induced by the hollow stare of your hungry children, fretting over whether or not you will eat is different from fretting over what you will eat.Every baby should come with a warning label, “This precious child will give you cause to worry, produce anxiety disproportionate to his/her size, is guaranteed to rob you of sleep and replace it with fretting of all sorts, and it will bless you with moments of mind blowing panic. This child’s health, disposition, friends, and decisions all have the potential to drastically increase all of the above.”Every leadership position, in business, government, and even church has its own bag of worries, anxiety producers, fretting, and panic buttons. Life is unpredictable, people are unpredictable, and kids are, as are economical climates and political realities.Of course there are worry, anxiety, fretting, and panic enhancers. Try stealing a car, or robbing a bank (I am not actually encouraging this) and then check your worry and anxiety level every time you see a police car. Lying, cheating, violence, illegalities, and such will increase your worries, your anxiety, and reasons to panic. But these will not only increase your anxieties and worries but also of those around you. How many kids fret, worry, panic, and are anxious because of their parents’ drug use or constant fighting? How many wives and children worry and are panicked at the slightest indication of a temper ready to explode again? How many work places are pits of worry and anxiety because of the bad decisions and lousy behavior of ownership and management, or even coworkers?One of the great benefits of the Christian life, of walking through life with God, of building your life on the wisdom and truths of God’s word is peace. Peace instead of worry, anxiety, fretting, and panicking. Not because there is all of the sudden nothing to worry about. Reasons for worry, anxiety, and panic sprout new every single day, ““So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today” Matthew 6:34 (NLT). Nor do we have to minimize or deny real issues and circumstances. No, the peace comes from knowing that in the midst of my worries and fears God keeps me. In the midst of what is out of control God is in control. In the midst of overload God shares my load, even takes my load. In the midst dark storms and drowning waves God is in my boat unfazed and able to bring me through, one word of his is enough to bring calm and peace (Mark 4:35-41).“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:6-9 (NLT). To God be all glory, love you, Pastor Hans