ANXIETY ... living with it or without it?
Can it be a choice? Is Plato right to say, ‘Nothing in the affairs of men is worthy of great anxiety’?
If it’s that simple, why do so many suffer with it?
Anxiety has plagued humans throughout history, men and women, famous and ordinary, rich and poor, young and old.
Some causes – loss, aging, guilt, expectations, uncertain goals, stress, unresolved guilt, buried shame, relationships, financial, health … you name it! Would you ‘Adam and Eve it’, we all feel these things and have done ever since Adam and Eve! That first break in relationship with God is the result of all this then and explains why it continues down through to our own generation and life experiences.
Some effects – sleep loss, mental illnesses (prominently depression), loss of ‘well-being’, even more damaged relationships.
No surprise that this is a core human problem, so how to live with it … and maybe without it?
Some cures – David Bowie points us in a helpful direction, one that is both spiritual and relational. If it all went wrong in the Garden of Eden, it was all put right in another Garden, Gethsemane, for it was here that Jesus agreed to go onwards to the cross to restore the broken relationship with God. In the Apostle John’s account, you read that Jesus said we’d have anxiety in this world but that he would give us peace (John 16:33). Did you know that Jesus said a prayer for you ? You can read it for yourself in John chapter 17 verses 20 – 26. Straight after that prayer, Jesus was arrested and crucified to give you peace with God and a restored relationship (John 3:16). That is the first in a line of good things that come once the spiritual search is over – peace is promised, Jesus sends His Holy Spirit to be with you in every anxiety and invites you to give your worries to him (1 Peter 5:7).
Yes ANXIETY is there and it is real – but there is a way to live with it and without it!
TAGS - anxiety, worry, searching, Gomez, Bowie, Seyfried, Mamma Mia, depression, sleep, peace
