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Beyond Resistance: Discovering Peace Through Dependence and Surrender

Blog by Alan Fadling

Two weeks ago, I wrote about humility and gentleness, two little virtues that can guide us into Jesus’s way of peace. Today, I’ll share three more little virtues that can help us.

 

The third little virtue that guides us to places of peace is…

 

Patience

One of the older English words for patience is “longsuffering.” Patience is being willing to endure certain forms of suffering or discomfort, especially in the service of others. At first glance, does that sound peaceful to you? Me either.

 

Impatience is being utterly unwilling to wait. Waiting feels like an inevitable place of anxiety. But what or who we are waiting for makes a great deal of difference. At times, my anxiety is an impatient companion demanding that an unpleasant situation change more quickly to something pleasant. This desire is understandable and natural. But the way of peace moves along the path of patient goodness.

 

A practice I’ve sometimes recommended to assess the level of hurry in your soul is to purposely drive in the right lane of the freeway. It probably sounds like unnecessary torture. When I’ve tried this practice on, my first interior reaction is usually frustration and irritation. I’m losing something. I’m wasting time. Maybe.

 

Or maybe the five or ten minutes I’ll gain weaving through traffic to win my own version of the Freeway Grand Prix is costing more than it’s saving me. The anger that lies just below the surface when I consider every person on the highway as an opponent to be beaten has a way of being corrosive.

 

When I’ve settled into the right lane (or stayed in any one lane regardless of how often I am passed by other drivers), I’ve eventually found that not being in a race is a more peaceful way to drive. If someone else wins that race, it costs me nothing. And what do they win anyway? The more peaceful me that arrives at my destination slightly later is a much better win.

 

Impatience is forgetting that peace is more gift than paycheck. It is more grace than works. It is more about being received than achieved. This is, at least in part, why little virtues like humility, gentleness, and patience pave the way of peace far more than pride, harshness, and impatience.

 

So in our journey toward a more non-anxious life, patience replaces the anger I feel when I assume the way to peace lies in demanding it now from the people and circumstances around me.

 

A fourth little virtue that helps us find peace is…

 

Dependence

 When I say that dependence is a pathway to peace, I’m not talking about any old variety of dependence. Being dependent on someone who is unreliable or unkind does not lead to peace. Who we are dependent on makes all the difference.

 

There is, after all, a sort of holy independence in which we resist the temptation to be defined by others. But there is also an unholy independence in which we resist God’s way for us. We have a Maker, and that Maker has a good design and beautiful purpose for our lives. The proper and, in fact, peaceful response to that design is something called obedience. Obedience? Something inside us likely cringes at that word.

 

We may think, “Obedience is for pets. Obedience is for children. Obedience isn’t for an adult like me.” But we all have someone or something we obey, whether that’s our own cravings or the advice of a person we admire. Holy obedience is agreeing—in mind, heart, and way—with the good wisdom of our Maker. Peace comes in alignment with God’s purposes in and for our lives.

 

So we find our way into peace as holy dependence replaces any self-reliance that assumes I must acquire peace by my own self-directed efforts.

 

And, finally, a fifth little virtue that helps us experience deeper peace is…

 

Surrender

If humility, gentleness, patience, and dependence are unpopular virtues in our culture, surrender is anathema.

 

Ours is a culture that treasures independence and never surrendering. I’m not recommending that we surrender our lives to every impulse, priority, or idea to cross our paths. That sort of surrender never helps anyone. Like with dependence, the one to whom we surrender makes all the difference.

 

As in these other little virtues, Jesus is our supreme example. I think of him in Gethsemane’s olive grove as he wrestles in prayer over what lies before him. His friends join him in this familiar time and place of prayer on this evening when he will be arrested and begin making his way to the cross.

 

Being fully God and fully human, Jesus wrestles with the horrible suffering he will endure at the hands of the Romans. He pleads, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matt. 26:39). What he prays for is not wrong, yet out of love he is willing to surrender his own desires for that which is best.

 

We are living in a time very much like that of the Old Testament judges. The last line of the book of Judges says, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (21:25 ESV).

 

There was no sense of common good, only of personal good defined as each one saw fit. We’re living in such a time now. If this sort of self-reliance and willfulness leads to reliable peace for us, then why is anxiety at an all-time high?

 

Just the other day as I scrolled on one of my social media feeds, I saw a meme that said, “Feeling overwhelmed? Life out of control? Try giving up!” That’s the spirit of the connection I’m making here between surrender and peace.

 

When it comes to walking the way of peace, surrender replaces the willfulness that assumes peace is something I achieve rather than receive.

 

Conclusion

Even as I wrote this post, I felt resistance in myself. I heard my own skeptical mind saying, “That’s a load of greeting card fluff.” But my own experience has taught me that more peace is found in humility than in pride. More peace comes from being gentle than from taking a harsh posture toward others. More peace comes in practicing patience than in maintaining an edge of anger. More peace comes in receptive dependence than self-reliant independence.

 

Learning to align ourselves with God’s very good way for us tends to increase peace in our lives and our work. This is what I think the psalmist means when he writes, “Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other” (Psalm 85:10).

 

The close relationship between righteousness and peace is fostered through the little virtues.

 

In reflecting on the transformative power of humility, gentleness, patience, dependence, and surrender, we confront our own resistance and skepticism. Yet, in our honest exploration, we discover that these virtues hold the key to genuine peace in our lives. As we grapple with our inner doubts and hesitations, we can also welcome the invitation to conversation with God, allowing these postures of peace to guide us on our continuing journey into non-anxious living.

 

For Reflection:

What have you been feeling as you read about humility, gentleness, patience, dependence, and surrender being pathways to peace? What resistance arises in you? Is there anything that feels inviting?
Consider the idea of holy dependence versus unholy independence. In what areas of your life are you relying more on your own efforts rather than aligning with God's wisdom and purpose?

 

UL #299: Lead with Prayer (Alan with Peter Greer)

 

 

How do prayer and leadership relate to each other? Looking at the lives of some leaders, it seems like prayer is incidental to leadership at best. For others, it’s a personal priority that doesn’t seem to impact leadership in any obvious way. For still others, prayer is like an on-ramp, preparatory for the work of leadership but largely left behind when the leading begins. 

 

What does Christian leadership that is deeply rooted in a life of communion with God look like? I’ll be talking about this today with Peter Greer, one of the authors of Lead With Prayer. 

 

Peter Greer, is the president and CEO of HOPE International, a global Christ-centered economic development organization serving throughout Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. Under Peter’s leadership, HOPE has expanded from working in two to over twenty countries and served over 2.5 million families. Prior to joining HOPE, Peter worked in Cambodia, Zimbabwe, and Rwanda. He has co-authored 15 books, including Mission Drift, Rooting for Rivals, The Gift of Disillusionment, and The Spiritual Danger of Doing Good.

Focus vs. Distraction: Unpacking the Mary & Martha Story

Blog by Gem Fadling

In the retelling of the Mary and Martha story, many people inadvertently pit these sisters against each other. We are forced to make a choice: “I’m a Mary” or (as I more regularly hear) “I’m a Martha.” As though these women were tropes or types on a personality test.

 

This is unfortunate, because then we are drawn to take sides. Our own identity becomes wrapped up in defending one woman or the other.

 

Before I unpack this further, I’ll give you the spoiler: This story isn’t about busy people and lazy people. We are ALL invited to follow the example of Mary and focus on the one thing of Jesus.

 

To make our way forward, it might be easier if we replaced Mary and Martha with focus and distraction.

 

Martha is the depiction of distraction in this story. She is preoccupied with something that is, in fact, important: feeding the people in her home. But Mary chooses to focus on what is truly important, and Jesus explicitly points this out.

 

Have you ever noticed how even important things can sometimes become distractions?

 

Martha is also deeply concerned about how it will look to others if Mary sits in a room full of men. This was simply not done in first-century Jewish culture. Martha has a genuine concern about Mary’s reputation as a woman sitting at the feet of Jesus in the posture of a disciple.

 

Even if Martha’s concern was warranted, Jesus turns the situation into a teaching moment for them and for us.

 

Here’s the whole story from Luke 10:38-42:

 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

 

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

 

In his book Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, Kenneth Bailey suggests the meaning of Jesus’s words to Martha:

 

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things. I understand the entire list. One thing is needed. What is missing is not one more plate of food but rather for you to understand that I am providing the meal and that your sister has already chosen the good portion. I will not allow you to take it from her. A good student is more important to me than a good meal.”

 

So, again, this is not about Type A and Type B personalities, with the need to defend oneself by asserting that “someone needs to get all the things done.” Jesus is saying there is only one thing needed and Mary has chosen it—sitting at the feet of Jesus as a disciple, as an apprentice, as one being taught.

 

I’ve thought a lot about Mary and Martha, and I have a deep desire to experience them as more than a punchline about the need to get things done.

 

What if we stopped categorizing ourselves as a Martha or a Mary depending on whether we’re a busy bee or a quiet contemplative?

 

That is not the central conversation here. Jesus says to Martha:

 “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

 

The passage also says that Martha was distracted. Add to that the dynamics of worried and upset and you have a mini perfect storm of overwhelm or unhealthy hurry.

 

This is the central conversation. Whether you like to be busy and do a lot of things is not what this is about. Dallas Willard, who famously counseled us to “ruthlessly eliminate hurry from our lives,” also said, “You have never seen people more active than those who have been set on fire by the grace of God.”

 

Contemplation and action make wonderful sisters. This is the seedbed of Unhurried Living’s tagline: Rest Deeper. Live Fuller. Lead Better.

 

The real question is this: Are you distracted, worried, and upset about many things? That’s where we want to pay attention—not on whether we are an introvert or an extrovert, or a busy bee or someone who is slow and steady.

 

Mary and Martha are not memes. They are not personality types. They are not even adversaries. They are sisters. I’d like to imagine that, at their best, both Mary and Martha were good at offering hospitality as well as listening to Jesus. I prefer not to relegate them to two dimensions.

 

The gift for us here is we get to decide what is central, our one thing. Jesus makes it clear in this story that “few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

 

You also get to decide what distracts you. Sometimes, even important things can become distractions that lead to worry. This is something you can discern in prayer or even with your spiritual director, pastor, or coach.

 

I believe with all my heart that this world needs leaders who are focused, centered, undistracted, loving, and overflowing with the fruit of the Spirit.

 

I know you are on this journey already, and I encourage you to keep contending for the good, beautiful, and true with Jesus, our Good Shepherd, as your guide.

 

For Reflection: 

What are some common distractions in your life these days? What can you do to mitigate or reduce these?
What practices or ways of being do you have in place currently to keep Jesus as the one thing in your life? What else might you add to your list?
What good, beautiful, or true activity might you engage today?

 

UL #298: From Rush to Rest: Navigating Life's Terrain with an Unhurried Heart (Gem)

 

I love watching travel and cooking shows, so if there’s a show that combines the two, I’m hooked. If you are familiar with the names Phil Rosenthal, Guy Fieri and Andrew Zimmern, then you know what I’m talking about. 

 

Traveling, eating tasty food, and meeting intriguing people is a combination my heart longs for. I’ve often mentioned to Alan that if I were to have an alternate universe job, I would be the host of Somebody Feed Phil (I guess Phil would have to find his own new job).

UL #298: From Rush to Rest: Navigating Life's Terrain with an Unhurried Heart (Gem)

 

I love watching travel and cooking shows, so if there’s a show that combines the two, I’m hooked. If you are familiar with the names Phil Rosenthal, Guy Fieri and Andrew Zimmern, then you know what I’m talking about. 

 

Traveling, eating tasty food, and meeting intriguing people is a combination my heart longs for. I’ve often mentioned to Alan that if I were to have an alternate universe job, I would be the host of Somebody Feed Phil (I guess Phil would have to find his own new job).

Little Virtues, Big Peace: Rediscovering Humility and Gentleness

Blog by Alan Fadling

Having written a book about anxiety, I’ve seen a lot of promises about how to solve it. A life hack here. Six easy steps there. But my own experience with anxiety has been anything but easy. In this post, I’ll share some of the more unexpected pathways to peace I’ve discovered in my journey.

 

As I’ve been talking more and more about A Non-Anxious Life, a couple chapters have been initially puzzling to at least a few interviewers. In these chapters, I suggest that the path of deeper peace might well invite us into the territory of humility, gentleness, patience, dependence, and even surrender. I’m guessing that these are not the pathways to a non-anxious life that initially come to mind for you either. Imagining what these pathways would look like in practical terms might even raise our anxieties.

 

In our search to overcome anxiety and find peace, we might look for ways to reduce trouble in our lives. If we’re able to do that, it might just help, but some troubles seem beyond our power to change. Or we may try to reduce conflict in our work or personal relationships, and again, if we are able to do that, it helps. Too often, however, conflict comes our way unexpected and uninvited.

 

But what if our most reliable source of peace has nothing to do with changing what is happening around us but changing something that is happening in us. When Jesus says that he is giving us his peace—a peace that’s different from what the world is offering—I believe this inner transformation is part of what he means.

 

In my book, I highlight the goodness of what have been called the “little virtues”:

 

“Our instinct is often to seek impressive virtues, exciting virtues, even heroic virtues. What if those virtues that are held in highest regard in the kingdom of God are actually humility and gentleness, among others? This is what we hear in the invitation of Jesus who describes himself as gentle and humble in heart (Matthew 11:29). Practicing these simple virtues right-sizes my life.

 

“Pursuing these little virtues will not lead to a small life. The little virtues are the way of Jesus, and so they are the way of growth in the glory and the power of God’s kingdom. Peace grows well in the soil of these simple virtues.” (A Non-Anxious Life, p. 69)

 

Our assumption that everything in our lives must be big and exciting and heroic does not actually add to but more often diminishes our peace.

 

So, the first of these little virtues that is a familiar friend of peace is…

 

Humility

 

Our contemporary North American culture is far more likely to promote pride as a virtue over humility. Pride is seen as empowering. Humility is seen as devaluing. But the pressure to make a name for ourselves through self-promotion does not play well with peace. The pressure to maintain a certain appearance for others leaves peace in the dust.

 

And the idea that my value is something I have to keep proving or keep earning day after day does not lean in the direction of peace.

 

Humility is not a devaluing of ourselves. It is letting go of the attempt to create self-generated value. Our true value has been given to us by God. Humility is a receptive and peaceful posture of embracing the value we are given. It’s a relief, actually, not to think about ourselves as often as we’re tempted to do.

 

So, when it comes to finding a way of peace in our lives, we need to let humility replace pride. Pride assumes that the path to peace is getting my way at all times, but isn’t it possible that Jesus knows the way to peace better than I do?

 

A second little virtue that plays well with peace is…

 

Gentleness

 

Gentleness is another unexpected companion of peace. In one of the few places that Jesus describes himself and his way, he says, “I am gentle and humble in heart” (Matt. 11:29). Is that our vision of him? Or is our vision of Jesus more demanding? How do we imagine a Prince of Peace who is other than gentle and humble? Does a Prince of Peace who is rough and mean make any sense?

 

One of the practical ways I’ve discovered the companionship of gentleness and peace is in how I treat myself. I’ve had a tendency in my spiritual journey to be rather harsh with myself in the belief that this would lead to better behavior on my part. I imagined that being hard on myself was the path to goodness.

 

But we’re told that God’s way of leading us to repentance is the way of kindness. It is God’s gentle way that inspires lasting change. Harshness may provoke a moment or even a season of change. But it also hardens something in us that then remains unchanged. Love transforms our inner posture, and this is what leads to lasting change and, in fact, to inner peace.

 

So, when it comes to discovering a more non-anxious way of living, I need to replace ruthlessness with gentleness. Ruthlessness assumes that the way to peace means treating others as obstacles to be harshly opposed. It really isn’t though.

 

In a couple of weeks, I’ll share three more unexpected companions of peace.

 

For Reflection:

Consider the idea that the most reliable source of peace comes from changing something within ourselves rather than changing external circumstances. How does this perspective challenge your own practical approach to seeking peace these days?
How might prioritizing little virtues like humility and gentleness contribute to a more non-anxious way of life for you in this season you find yourself in?

UL: #297: Overcoming Hurry Sickness: The Virus of Insecurity

 

In An Unhurried Leader, I shared that I’ve often been tempted to prove something about myself through the work I do. I behave as though my value is uncertain and needs to be earned or achieved. It isn’t and it doesn’t. To use a theological category, my worth is more a matter of grace rather than a matter of works.

 

That sort of insecurity has been a major driver of hurry in my life. I wonder if you identify. 

6 Verses to Foster Spiritual Formation

Blog by Gem Fadling

For the last few years I have enjoyed meeting with women in coaching or soul care groups. It is such a beautiful and vulnerable way to share our lives. The women who attend are always leaning in toward God and desiring to connect at a deeper level with others.

 

Awhile back I decided I wanted to share with these women the scriptures that have helped form me. These verses helped me focus on the centrality of God’s love, the way of Jesus, and the process of being transformed. I’d like to share these passages with you today.

 

Of course, these are not all the verses that have impacted me, nor are they the only verses that point to love, connection, and transformation. I’m simply sharing some verses that, to me, paint the lovely picture of how God initiates and we respond over the course of our lives.

 

I believe this progression and these verses are the trellis on which the flowering vine of my life can unfold. Not every verse that represents this process is included, but this is a wonderful starting place.

 

I love these passages, and I hope they will bring encouragement to your heart today. I suggest you make time later to read them slowly and notice how they inform your own foundational connection to God as God enlivens, renews, and refreshes you.

 

1. It Begins with God’s Love and Care

 

The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Exodus 3:7-8)

 

This passage is the basis for the practice of Immanuel Journaling created by Sungshim Loppnow. These are the main verbs that stand out:

 

I see you.
I hear you.
I am concerned about you.
I can help you.
I will be gracious to you.

 

This passage wonderfully shows us God’s posture toward us. I’m seen, heard, cared for, and graciously helped. This is a beautiful foundation on which to build a life.

 

2. God Is Not Elsewhere

 

In him we live and move and have our being. (Acts 17:23)

 

I love the all-encompassing nature of these words. I am in God. I am in Christ. All of me, all the time. I live, move, and have my being in God. You can’t get any closer than that. This is kingdom reality. God is not elsewhere.

 

3. God Initiates, Carries, and Completes

 

He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)

 

I get into trouble when I carry the weight of the world on my little shoulders. I think too highly of myself and move forward in a spirit of control. This verse assures me that God began the work and God will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ. As Henry Blackaby profoundly noted, we simply join God in God’s work.

 

This is another foundational idea that keeps me from being over-responsible and then overwhelmed.

 

4. We Remain Attached

 

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)

 

This verse and its surrounding context is so important. It is the centrality of our connection to Jesus. We remain attached. And just like with a vine or tree, the branch that stays connected bears fruit. It’s simply the way things work. “Apart from me you can do nothing” is one of my favorite lines of scripture. I receive it as an invitation into a lifelong relationship of connection, nourishment, promise, and love.

 

5. We Are Transformed

 

Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. (Romans 12:1 NIV).

Let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be…. Love from the center of who you are. (Romans 12:6, 9 MSG).

 

These phrases leapt out at me one time when I was listening to scripture while preparing to lead a daylong retreat. Notice the passive nature of that phrase “be transformed.” It hearkens back to Philippians 1:6. God initiates and God transforms. Our part is to remain open, respond, and cooperate. Again, it’s an organic and connected image.

 

And within that transformation I am invited to simply be who I was created to be and love from the center of that place. This is simple but not always easy. I can practice embracing who God has made me to be and then simply offer that to others. And I can more easily love from that place of reality. No masks, no personas. Just me offering myself in healthy and helpful ways for the sake of others.

 

6. Fruit Emerges

 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)

 

I don’t make fruit. This is important because it’s easy to get caught in the trap of trying to produce. Christian production is exhausting because it’s an unnecessary trap that can lead to burnout.

 

But fruit-bearing is a sustainable way to live. And this brings us back to John 15. I remain attached, open, and cooperative. And then fruit like love, joy, and peace can emerge naturally from my life.

 

Just like a farmer doesn’t actually create an apple, I don’t create peace. A farmer tends a plant by watering, weeding, thinning, and pruning, and it bears fruit. Likewise, I tend to the soil and garden of my own heart and God bears the fruit of peace, goodness, and kindness.

 

Something being formed in me that grows and then bursts forth is different from me pushing and trying to make something happen. This is an important posture shift for a Christian leader.

 

As I reflect on these passages again, I realize I’m really just painting a picture of John 15. It is the progression of the vine and the branches. No surprise there, as I’ve been living for over thirty years with that image as my paradigm for life.

 

How do these verses strike you? What emerges from within you as you read them? I hope they inspire you today and that you have a deeper sense of living, moving, and having your being in God.

 

For Reflection: 

I invite you to consider these verses again later. What does the progression mean to you?
If you were to create your own scripture-based paradigm, which verses would you choose?
What is the trellis of your own life? What supports you as you make your way forward in formation and leadership?

UL #296: A Heart for Leadership Formation (Gem w/ Jodie and Matt)

 

Unhurried Living is now in its ninth year of serving Christian leaders around the world. We’ve come to some small inflection points in the past, but we are in the midst of another, important time in our ministry. We are adding to our team!

 

Today I am introducing you to Jodie Niznik and Matt Fogle. They are two stellar leaders who are going to link arms with Alan and me as we continue the work of training leaders to rest deeper, live fuller and lead better. I can’t wait for you to meet them.

 

Jodie Niznik is a seminary-trained and ordained lover of God’s Word and people. She served in pastoral ministry at a large church for over twelve years, including as Women’s Pastor, Adult Ministries Pastor and Executive Pastor. She now helps people create space for God through her Scripture meditation podcast, So Much More, and  Real People, Real Faith Bible studies.

 

Matt Fogle is a trained Spiritual Director who also has two Master’s degrees in Organizational Leadership and in Spiritual Formation. He grew up in rural Illinois where mentors helped Matt to see that God is calling everyone to an abundant and adventurous life in Christ. For over ten years Matt has been a pastor in TX, IL and AZ, as well as a speaker and retreat facilitator in CA & CO. He has worked with multiple non-profits in the areas of leadership development and spiritual formation.

In the Eye of the Storm: Finding Peace Amidst Anxiety

Blog by Alan Fadling

In A Non-Anxious Life, I wrote how Jesus’s counsel about anxiety speaks to the reality of God’s physical care for his creation. Jesus says, “Look at the birds.” He urges us to recognize that God is caring for their physical needs. You never see them shopping at the local grocery store, yet they always find food to eat each day.

 

In the first weeks after the book release, I found myself doing a lot of podcast and radio interviews. During one of these, California was being hit by a historic rainstorm that dropped four months’ worth of rain in just two days. Our backyard looked like a lake. I was just finishing up my conversation when I looked out the window through a torrent of rain and noticed a number of birds happily eating lunch at our bird feeders.

 

As my smartphone was alerting me to a flood warning for our area, the birds were enjoying the care of God right in the middle of it.

 

Who was taking care of the birds? God.

 

Who is caring for me? God.

 

Right at the center of the storms that surround each of us, God’s care is present and real. The God of peace is a caring presence in the midst of my many cares, whatever they may be.

 

Flowers are another image Jesus uses when speaking about worry. You never see lilies shopping for clothes in a department store or roses posting carefully curated photos on social media, but they are more beautiful than any of that. No royalty or celebrity comes close to the beauty of a field covered with wildflowers.

 

I remember visiting Israel one spring about ten years ago. Throughout the trip, we saw fields full of bright red anemones everywhere we drove. They were breathtakingly beautiful. They don’t anxiously strive to be beautiful. God has given them beauty. In the same way, the goodness and beauty of our own lives is a gift rather than something we frantically try to earn.

 

God cares for the physical well-being of birds and flowers, and we can rest in God’s tangible care for us as well. My worries matter to God. Jesus cares about our concerns, but they don’t worry him. That which provokes anxiety in me is in the Father’s care.

 

Recently, there have been a number of situations—personal, relational, and vocational—that have provoked a strong physical reaction of anxiety in me. It’s not an unfamiliar sensation. But practicing the presence of God’s care and peace as I was writing this latest book has enabled me to have a bit of distance from the anxiety rather than being inundated by it.

 

Martin Laird, in his beautiful little book Into the Silent Land, talks about the practice of silent prayer. He shares a metaphor that I’ve found very helpful. He suggests that all the anxious thoughts and feelings that surround us are like weather that surrounds a mountain. We are tempted, especially when that weather is stormy, to think that we are the weather.

 

But Laird reminds us that, in God, we are much more solid than that. We are like that mountain, rooted in God, rather than the surface weather that comes and goes. We have worries, but we are not our worries. This difference of perspective has helped me to right-size anxious thoughts and feelings. Anxiety can still come on strong in my experience, but recognizing that it’s passing weather and not permanent reality has been good for me.

 

My thoughts, feelings, and sensations of anxiety are real. They are actually happening to me and in me. But God-with-me is even more real.

 

Too often I’ve practiced the presence of anxiety more than the presence of God. It’s as though I’m rehearsing my worries in front of God rather than welcoming the reality of God into my worries.

 

Sometimes the best thing I can do when feeling overwhelmed by anxieties is to sit, become still in my body, and offer myself to the solid, caring presence of God. I can let God be the place of solid care that supports me in the midst of my many concerns. I can learn to let the peace of Christ displace worry and to embody peace instead of continuing to rehearse my anxiety.

 

Let me conclude with a blessing I crafted to close one of the chapters in my new book:

 

May God’s empowering presence, his measureless generosity, and his great goodness be with you, seeking you before ever you seek him. And may grace bear the fruit of deep well-being, freedom from anxious care, and a soul at rest in the presence of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen! 

 

For Reflection:

As you reflect on Jesus’s words in the Gospels about birds and flowers, how does recognizing God's care for them challenge your own perspective on anxiety and worry?
Recall the metaphor of being like a mountain amidst passing weather. How might this metaphor help you navigate moments of anxiety in your own life?