Cast all your anxiety upon [God] for He cares about you.
1 Peter 5:7
In the gym this morning (yes, that sounds impressive!), I was beside a conversation about how many commitments one lady was 'juggling' in a normal week. Another lady said, "Don't even talk about it, I hang out for Friday!" Now this was only Monday: oh dear!
As I thought about the juggling comment it occurred to me that 'managing' or even 'balancing' would have been a better word. When you say 'juggling', it just sounds harder and what we tell ourselves by the words we use has a huge mental effect on us. Juggling says 'tricky' or even slightly out of control, whereas, to me, 'managing' or ' balancing' sounds more measured and controlled.
I know that it's just words but so often our words determine out mental and emotional state. By just saying "I can't do this", "I can't wait till this is over"or "this is unbearable" we put more stress on ourselves, our anxiety levels rise and stress hormones course through our bodies with negative effects on our health and well-being. It may be that we sometimes take on more than we should so it doesn't hurt to re-evaluate our load sometimes and see if we are doing things that we shouldn't be or that someone else in the family could be helping with. Make sure your burden is YOUR burden and not someone else's you have taken up. If that's all good then Jesus gave some sound advice in Matthew 6:34 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today." Concentrate on today's stuff.
One day at a time; sometimes one hour at a time. is the best way to do life when things seem to be overwhelming. If we get caught up in the stress of the week on Monday we won't enjoy the moments
or look for moments. Sometimes we don't even recognise our anxiety, but we need to because it will only do us harm. Take Jesus into your moments and allow him to manage them with you. He has promised us strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.
Lord Jesus, forgive me for allowing my burdens and schedule to pull me down into a 'barely coping' mentality. Help me to look for moments to enjoy, blessings you give, beauty to see and most of all help me to allow you to guide me and give me wisdom about how to do life. Amen
