My bestie said it the other day. “Do you ever just wake up with anxiety? For no reason? I did this morning… just so anxious.”
Oh yes, I do. And today I did. So it was interesting that her comment was so fresh in my memory. Maybe you don’t do this or haven’t in a while, but every now and again, I wake up with a gnawing sense of anxiousness. Unsettled. Worried.
But the reality is, there is always a reason. For me anyway. And the trick for me is not to disregard it but to be curious about it. So today I was….
Thankfully, I did have a commonly known scripture tucked away in my heart which began to gnaw right back at my feeling.
Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7 NLT
I went to work with my concordance to learn more about these worries and cares that were bothering me so….
I found it funny that a word that reads and sounds so pretty in the Greek, keeps me up at night. Merimna.
merimna: to be drawn in different directions, anxiety about things pertaining to this earthly life
Look at that. Hmmmm. To be drawn in different directions. Anxiety about this earthly life. Yes. Silly May. Crazy schedule. Wrapping up all the loose ends of the school year. Moving my college student out of the dorm, high schoolers studying for exams, preparing for a family vacation, making arrangements for the dog, oh, and the mail, attending dentist appointments, normal job things that take time and attention, needing to balance the budget… and make that grocery order.
Everything going in different directions. Merimna.
I think it so sweet of the Lord to throw this in there. 1 Peter 5:7…. He knew.
He knows.
You know, we were created to walk in the cool of the day with Him. LOL. To tend to gardens and enjoy Him forever. So it’s NO WONDER our central nervous system all but short circuits with the pace of culture and the noise pollution of our day.
So my plan to interrupt this sense of anxiety about things pertaining to the early life? Go back to the garden…..
Just read this and take note of how your body feels. Take a deep breath as God creates Adam….
Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils and the man became a living person. Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east and there he placed the man he had made. The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground – trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit….. The Lord placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it… Genesis 2:7-9, 15 NLT
There is something about nature that makes the world right.
A reminder maybe, that God cares for the birds. The lilies. Even the squirrels that drive me absolutely bonkers in my yard. If he can make rainbows in the sky and caterpillars into butterflies, then I can trust that He’s got me.
I can take that deep breath, the very breath he breathed into Adam, and know that He is with me. As close as the air in my lungs.
So, if you are reading this and feel a bit overwhelmed with your “everyday life, drawn in different directions” take a few minutes outside.
Get back to the garden. Hit reset for a few minutes. Pray and cast your “worries and cares” on him.
Because He cares for you.
Becky Crenshaw 