So here I am in this season of my life. This season signifies: fighting for peace, insisting on empty spaces and gentle breathing.
My prayer is that the concepts that I want to share with you here will help remove anxiety from the precious places in your heart. I pray that the muscle spasms, ulcers and migraines will give way as I share with you very special revelations, and also definitely still; victories in the making for me.
In Part 1 of this DO NOT BE ANXIOUS blog I shared about how much our minds are attacked and often is a lovely playing field for the enemy. All of this resulting in anything but peace.
Our rushed lives leaves very little space for peace. I always thought that the majority of the problem, in finding peace, lied in how I managed my circumstances. But in the contrary, it only contributed to major ‘control freak’ issues. For Example: “If I take this opportunity, X Y and Z can happen, but if I choose the other option things can turn out better. But will I cope?”, “Did I send yesterday’s client the email I promised? When she receive the email how will she react? And what can I do to change her reaction? “, “If I’m not there, who will pack the lunches?”, “Who will know that Emma will most probably have a meltdown if somebody else picks her up late from school?”, “We only have a week till Johannes’ school assignment is due (Am I the only one who is aware of this?), “Will anyone ever understand the notice board in my study?”…and so on and so forth. My days are usually filled with these thoughts and I am sure, so is yours. Even if yours aren’t filled with kids’ stuff I am sure there is a whole lot of other ones which can keep you busy.
Then last week I read: “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day (when He comes) will close on you unexpectedly like a trap.” (Luke 21:34 – NIV)…and it makes sense why we have to intentionally push anxieties aside. It’s a trap, a distraction, a way of veering us off track.
I am sure you know the saying…”I am a human being, no a human doing”. In June 2014 Jone E Childs(Licenced Clinical Social Worker) wrote in the Huffington Post:”… my fear is that the human being that was once part of our culture and era is slowing disappearing and morphing into a new species of evolution that I call the “human doing.” She predominantly suggests that technology is main cause.
I often catch myself checking the phone to many times, or unnecessarily browsing and Facebooking. I bought a book the other day with a title: “How to unplug your child”, and then I keep on thinking: “But how do I unplug myself? They will do what I do, not do what I say.”
2016 has arrived and we are two years down the line since Joan wrote her article. Are you doing or being? If you are a super “do-er”, like me…How many anxieties originate while you run on your hamster wheel? Is there a better answer than “O well, that’s life?”
I’ve really battled to get my head around the “being” concept. It sounds ideal and makes sense on an inner level, but to be totally honest I had no idea how to make it practical. How do you explain just “being”?
I guess we can start by saying I am “being” if I can live honestly, and really try to show myself to the world, therefore less pretending. That’s a good starting point and an important one as such. To be honest with yourself and others frees us from many things.
Taking honesty in consideration I still felt a bit lost about the relief I longed for. I know “being” is part of the key to experience the Peace that Transcends all Understanding. I wanted to attach something to “being” that could help me experience the peace.
Over the weekend we had a coaching course session and while we were discussing suffering, and the place it had in our life’s journey, something clicked…
You see, we cannot be in the moment, and honestly so, if we have not accepted this now for what it is. Acceptance of the present can help us to “be”.
Think about it: How can I ever get the real significance out of the work that I do, if I keep on wishing it is time to pack up? When will I build the relationships around me now if I keep on checking What’s Apps about people not with me, and talking about tomorrow? How will I work through my grief if I constantly just wish the funeral would end so that I can escape all the pain?
In Matthew Jesus said: Do not worry about tomorrow, because each day has its own troubles. Therefore there might most probably be troubles, it’s not disappearing, but our worry about today or tomorrow has no positive contribution to the situation. Yet our faith in Him does. Faith not necessarily in what He will do about the situation, but faith in Him always being here with me now.
If I can accept the moment for what it is. If I can choose to live it out, good or bad. Can I find the peace of just being here?
Obviously acceptance can be much more complicated as it seems. I would never suggest it being a passive way of existing. Jesus sent us out to preach the gospel and change the world, He also never just sat around doing nothing. I do believe though he had a total acceptance of his circumstances and who He was. He breathed in God’s presence and lived fully with what was handed to Him. He was, and is the personification of true inner peace.
Paul speaks of a contentment in circumstances good and bad. Contentment has always had a positive connotation to a person’s state of existing. Contentment would be very difficult without the acceptance of circumstances. I think Paul had to get to the place of trusting God’s judgment immensely, and still have faith that God can do anything at any time.
The Mirriam Webster defines stress as: a state of mental tension and worry caused by problems in your life, work, etc. Therefore stress originates in our minds and in my experience has the potential to permeate the whole body. Stress usually start in that moment when we fight the present, and try to escape where we are now, or trying to avoid what is coming. We also have to remember that stress is not an emotion. Emotions have a place in our human walk. It has to be experienced whether good or bad, and usually has a positive effect on our bodies.
Therefore let’s fight stress with acceptance and prayer. It will take practice and intention, but the fruit of peace will last. His peace will keep you alive! Be blessed!
Part 3 will follow next ….
Written by Johanni Meiring
Johanni Meiring 