The Art of Carrying Things Lightly

I’ve noticed something over the past several months…

I have a bad habit of turning small things into big things…a mountain out of a molehill, if you will.

I let unread texts make me anxious. I let the commitments on my calendar make me anxious. I even let household chores make me anxious.

And now that I have a 5-week-old, that list has grown…

I start to feel anxious as nighttime approaches, knowing that he’ll likely cry from 5:00 to 9:00 PM. I feel anxious about germs and the looming sniffles and coughs of cold season. I feel anxious about getting to our appointments/church/gatherings on time (now that there are about 22 more steps that need to happen before leaving the house).

So I sit here and ask myself, “WHY, LORD? Why am I letting these things steal my peace?”

I don’t want to feel anxious 50% of the day.

I want to feel a peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7). I want to feel the joy of the Lord (Nehemiah 8:10). I want to be so full of the fruit of the Spirit that I don’t have any room left for melancholy, self-pity, or an anxious heart (Galatians 5:22-23).

The Creator didn’t create His image bearers to be burdened. No, He created us to glorify Him. And I’m going to go out on a limb and say that He’s not glorified by our anxiety.

Anxiety is a selfish feeling. It’s self-serving, not Jesus-serving.

Elisabeth Elliot puts it this way: “One cause of our stress, restlessness, discouragement, and depression is our failure to place the Savior clearly before our eyes as master.” 

If He’s not our master, we feel weighed down by earthly masters.

If He is our master, we can feel as light as a feather.

With each new day, Jesus extends this invitation: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

Scripture even gives us a visual picture of what this looks like in Psalm 23:

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”

Green pastures. Still waters. A restored soul.

This is what the Lord offers us. The question is: Are we going to accept it?