Anxiety

All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership. – John Kenneth Galbraith,

Anxiety anxiety, anxiety, where do you hide? With the dead? —no, with the living. Aha, these fear to die —no they fear to live. What is the cause? It is a mystery; otherwise we are referring to “fear” which has a definite and obvious root. Anxiety has not.

For example, a person fears thunderstorms. When a big one comes, feelings of fear surface. However, with anxiety perhaps there is no storm, threat, or imposing danger. One writer wrote, “what causes anxiety, however, is the indefinite. In this respect anxiety is like boredom. I am simply anxious as I am bored. There is no definite cause.”—no certain limits.

I feel anxious when I teeter about, “God-with-me” versus “God-left-me.” Of course this is all moody indecisiveness, attitude wavering, opinionated assertion. The Bible God doesn’t discard His “everywhere present” status for my stuff. But, does God like me one day and get angry the next? My mind tells me He does.
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So, some things that restrict the breathing, (original meaning for anxiety), are: one, wondering if anybody likes me, two, wondering if I am perceived as a nut, three, speculating about “do I fit in or am I tolerated?” More worries go this way: do people look at my facial flaws, do people know about my past sins, do others have as many bad things happen to them as me? We could list more; thousands.

Viktor Frankl says, “Being human means being in the face of meaning to fulfill, and values to realize. Man lives by ideals and values. Man’s original and natural concern with meaning and values is endangered by the: prevalent subjectivism and relativism. Both are liable to erode idealism and enthusiasm.” 

In other words, when I make a personal value of the Bible verse; “who can separate me from the love of God?” and later bring it into the field for questioning, I allow uncertainty to enter truth. I allow my scrutiny to dissect a non-dissectable reality. I subtly rip apart, but only in my mind, a not-ripable absolute.

Viktor Frankl goes on to say “There is no such thing as cognition (knowing), outside of the polar field of tension established between object and subject. What is he saying here? He is saying that life plays out on a pendulum between the self life and the objective “other” life, and my “me sourced” existence largely hinders the “God-sourced” real world. When we gain the “received” life from God, we are freed from the default life with its elaborate array of insane thoughts, some of which are listed above. Make sense?

Can I tell a secret about anxiety? Go speak to a fellow human being about Jesus Christ. I met a person as my computer, lap top, and phone all disintegrated before my eyes in a short month. I prayed for God to arrange a conversation and this precious person I found on the street —a foreigner yet an articulate English speaker.

I sensed a genuine interest and a beckoning for sincere answers to life and religion etc. It was rare. In this case The Holy Spirit ministered so beautifully and I was amazed at His care, sensitivity, compassion and love for the person. I became consumed in the discussion which went on for a half an hour.

When it was over, the love of God overwhelmed me, I had been in the very presence of God. The person went satisfied, hope excited, and freed up. It was a privilege, an honor, a ministry and a cure. See, the abiding presence of love-personified dispels anxiety. Prayer and supplication and letting our requests be known unto God does the same job.

Finally, He waits to be gracious to any. He is an ever present help in time of trouble, and is touched by the feelings of our infirmities. He understands even our self-centered questions, our stupid ones, and our insane wonderings. Take them to Him. His love fixes em and us. Never leave. Love ya