Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. ~ Philippians 4:6-7
What do you waste your energy on?
Do you worry needlessly about what you cannot change? Do you believe that exerting negative energy at a problem will make it go away? Do you worry about things that are unlikely to happen? Are you always wondering what people are thinking of you?
Worry is an insidious force because whenever we’re feeling helpless, worry can make us feel like we’re doing something about the situation.
But when you worry, all you’re doing however is wasting your spiritual energy. And it demonstrates a profound lack of faith in God.
A few thoughts about worry
- We rarely worry about things we are presently facing. Our worry if fueled by uncertainty and anticipation.
- Worry tends to be future oriented. We only worry about the past if we are concerned about how it might affect our future.
- When we become addicted to worry, the inconsequential becomes significant. This leads to stress, anxiety, anger, and other forms of energy waste.
Some practical tips
- Let the onset of worry be a signal to pray. Let a pray of thanksgiving precede a prayer of petition.
- Focus on the good things you have going right now. Be mindful of the present.
- Keep a worry journal. Write the things you are worrying about. Be specific. Later on, write about how the situation resolved itself. Did your worse fears come true? Was it as bad as you thought? Why or why not? Was it worth your time to worry?
Understand that worry is only our pitiful attempt to control our external environment. Don’t waste your valuable energy on the external. Use it to change your internal environment.
Yes!! I struggle with this sometimes and it’s so true. Worry demonstrates a lack of faith that whatever is brought to us is for us, and a lack of faith in the protection of Jah (God) over us. Of course we want to exercise good judgment and discernment, so making decisions can cause stress but ultimately as long as we are praying for wisdom, all we can do is do the best we can and leave the rest to God, knowing that for certain things will be ordered for our ultimate benefit.
Amen Imani….couldn’t have said it any better. Thank you for sharing 🙂
“…the inconsequential becomeS significant.”
Sorry I don’t agree with your views. There is no God. Proverbs says that those who believe this way are fools. I say those who believe in God are the real fools. He is imaginary. He is a figment of imagination. He is not even there. God doesn’t exist. We are all animals who came about through evolution and share a lot of our ancestry with monkeys and other apes. Nothing can be beyond the laws of science. Nothing can go beyond the natural. There IS no supernatural. By its very definition, the term supernatural is an oxymoron of sorts. I have never in my life come across any thing supernatural. Everything is the product of nature. I saw swans flying over my head in the night, but they were probably trained by guess who, man.
So prayer doesn’t work either. For proof of that, pray that cancer goes away tomorrow. Then you’ll be enlightened tomorrow. Not that I believe in enlightenment either. Faith is hanging onto strings. A good business though.
Personally, I am an atheist, and it is the only logical thing to be.
Siddharth, It is not my goal to convince anyone to agree with my views so you are certainly entitled to disagree. I think you have been a reader of this blog for a while so it should be no surprise to you that I am a person of faith…and though I am not heavy handed in expressing my faith on this blog, it is my blog to express myself as I see fit…grammatical errors and all.
At this point in my life, I know that engaging in an argument with you over this is a total waste. You cannot expect me to be convinced by your arguments against the existence of God (which I’ve heard a thousand times before) any more than you can be convinced by any of my arguments for the existence of God.
And while I disagree with your characterization of faith and prayer, you never catch me calling you a fool for your views. After all, you may very well be right. So why believe in something that I admit may be wrong? Because I’m a fool…a fool for Christ (check out 1 Corinthians 4 when you get a chance).
So I’ll leave you with a quote that pretty much sums up my thinking on this…I hope you won’t dismiss it out of hand but sit with it for a while. This is from the book “Life’s too short to pretend you’re not religious” by David Dark:
“…I believe there’s something dishonest and deluded at work when we speak as if it’s only other people who are misguided by unreasoning rage or strange notions about the way the world works, only others who, as the saying goes, have an agenda. In this view, religion is only a word for the way intellectually underdeveloped people get carried away, a snob’s word, and it strikes me as a strange disowning of one’s own vulnerability and, if you like, gullibility; it’s a rude denial of the fact of our common creatureliness.”
Hi Siddharth,
Well, it’s Easter, so first I am going to
wish you a Happy Easter, and second, I’m going
to waste some of my energy (see what I did there?) by musing on some of your
remarks and responding.
Should I insult, or try to undermine someone
else’s religion or belief system, I automatically renounce my own.
It appears that we are all on a spectrum of
understanding. What supports us and transports us along part of our journey to
understanding, will undoubtedly have to be at the very least modified later on.
In the meantime, it is unkind and therefore unwise, to try to dent a possible
life-raft that is invaluable to its user. I would also add, that trying to
disabuse someone of the use of their life-raft only makes them defend it more.
Classically, one evolves in one’s understanding by responding to the higher
qualities being demonstrated. For instance,
loving kindness, insight into the difficulties and vulnerabilities of others,
wisdom, intellectual analysis, and expansive philosophies that are capable of
encompassing all.
Of course, we all begin our journey with
limited experience, so we cling to simple
ideas. As we progress, we hopefully equip ourselves with deeper philosophies to
deal with greater complexity. History teaches us that, eventually it is
unhelpful to cling to simple, absolutist dogmas when we are dealing with a
dynamic, conditioned universe. Hence, if we are not careful we can impale
ourselves on our own dogmatic little
thoughts mistaking them for our ‘self.’ Instead, we would do better by
appreciating their fleeting appearance and allowing them to evolve.
You see, some atheists treat their belief, or
non-belief, as if it were an identifiable
flag to be planted on the battlefield as
a mark of victory. In reality, these people are describing their limitations
and probably marking out their own prison
cell.
So, I wish you a happy Easter hoping that
your philosophy brings you equanimity, generosity and magnanimous and consoling
insights.
Zara.
Hello Cylon,
First of all, a very Happy Easter. Blessings to you and your family.
I thank you for your post – very apt reminder for me at the moment – I do come up on the ‘worry spectrum’ but am doing my best (usually!) to combat it by letting it slide into deserved nothingness. Worry is no good for me nor for anyone else – so let it go!
Thanks as always.
Kindest regards.