4 Helpful Tips to Keep From Getting Stuck in the Yuck

Into every life some yuck must fall. (My very loose paraphrase of a familiar adage.) But just because yuck happens, it doesn’t mean that we have to live there. In fact, living in the yuck is no way to live!

As I continue to work on pouring out the rough draft of PIECES ON EARTH (a Christmas story due out in November 2015), one of the minor characters in the story gives advice to the main character on how not to get stuck in the yuck. I decided the advice was both Biblical and share-worthy, so I’m adding this blog post as both a devotional and how-to post.

As mentioned above, yuck happens to all of us. And when it lands in our laps, it’s easy to become so focused on it that we start to live there. I hope this article encourages all of us–me included–to find our way out of the yuck and back into the right way of thinking and living.

Tip #1: Focus on God

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. ~Philippians 4:6-9 (NASB)

The yuck of life often brings with in anxiety and fear. But as we focus on both the yuck and those anxieties and fear, we lose perspective. Only as we focus our hearts and minds where they need to be anyway–on God–can we live above the yuck.

He is the only One who is completely true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellent, and worthy of praise. This passage tells us that if we dwell on these things, refuse to be anxious, and instead turn to Him in prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving that His incomprehensible peace will guard our hearts and minds in Christ.

That guarding of our heart actually means to set up a fort around. I don’t know about you, but that word picture brings me a lot of comfort. His peace is a fortress for our hearts and minds to guard against living in the yuck.

I’ve recently noticed in my prayer time that proclaiming and rehearsing who God is brings such peace and comfort. When I’m struggling with the yuck, remembering that God is sovereign, holy, good, merciful, and more helps put my focus back where it belongs. Another way to put it is this: Instead of focusing on the storm, focus on the Stiller of storms. The yuck disappears when we do this!

Tip #2: Be Grateful and Hopeful

The Philippians passage mentions the word “thanksgiving” as a way of overcoming anxiety. I’m convinced that when I take the time to be grateful it helps me focus on what is good in my life rather than on what I perceive to be lacking. Having that attitude of gratitude is so important when trying to live above the yuck.

Along with thanksgiving comes hope. How? I think the two go hand in hand. When we express gratitude to God for what He has given us, re recognize that there was a time when those things were lacking in our lives. Those things we once needed have been supplied. God does not change. He has provided in the past and will continue to do so. That knowledge of His provision and immutability gives us hope.

Tip #3: Choose to Trust

The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, Because he trusts in You. ~Isaiah 26:3

Fear and faith can’t co-exist. When one moves in, the other moves out. We are the ones who choose which one stays. When yuck happens in our lives, it’s all-too easy to give fear free reign. But guess what? Giving in to the fear only brings more fear. I speak from personal experience. Like Liv in the story of PIECES ON EARTH, news headlines can send me in a tizzy, as I imagine all the potential for fearful things to happen.

This tip really goes hand in hand with the first tip, because it too deals with focus. If we focus on fearful things, we experience fear. If we instead choose to trust God and focus on who He is and that nothing is beyond His ability, our faith blossoms and grows. Faith is indeed a choice we must make every day. And for me, it’s sometimes a decision I have to consciously make minute by minute.

Tip #4: Help Others

Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. ~Galatians 6:2

I don’t know why our yuck is so tempting as a place to actually dwell, but it is. (Me thinks the enemy has something to do with this.) It helps me to remember that I’m not the only person dealing with yuck. It’s everywhere, and it affects all of us. A great way to get outside of our own yuck is to reach out to others to help them through theirs.

Again, this tip goes hand in hand with the first tip. When we over-focus on our own yuck, it makes it difficult to see the hurt and pain others are experiencing. As we reach out to them, we take the focus off our stuff. And something miraculous often happens.

First off, we realize that our yuck is small in comparison. Seeing the bigger problems of others turns our mountainous yuck into molehill-sized yuck. It’s still yuck, just greatly minimized and easier to deal with. Secondly, by helping others we often find ways to deal with our own problems. And last of all, a problem shared with others is a problem divided. There’s a reason why we’re told in the Bible to carry one another’s burdens.

In Conclusion

Even writing this post has helped me with my own yuck. Yuck brings anxiety, depression, sorrow, etc., but we can choose to live above the yuck and the pain it brings.

We glorify the Lord when we choose to think and live differently, and these three tips help put the yuck of life in proper perspective:

Instead of focusing on your problems and storms, focus on God, remembering who He is.
Since we serve a God who provides and never changes, be grateful and hopeful.
Rather than allowing bad news to bring fear, choose instead to trust God.
Get past your own yuck by helping others through theirs.

COMMENT CHIT-CHAT: What are some helpful tips that help you live above the yuck?

 

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