It is time once again for Faith & Healing, the weekly series that discusses faith and mental illness and how my faith in particular has been very helpful for me as I manage my recovery. Today, I want to talk about the birds and the bees and anxiety. And no, it isn’t going to be that birds and bees talk.
No, on the contrary I want to talk about the birds and the bees of Matthew 6:25 and 6:26.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Matthew 6:25-26 (NIV)
It seems so easy when put down in the scriptures like that. Of course, as anyone who has an anxiety condition knows, it is far from easy. Yes, knowing that God will provide does offer comfort for me as I travel along, but sometimes it seems like I am failing when I feel such anxiety.
Yet it isn’t necessarily meant to be easy. No where in the Bible does God promise us an easy life, He merely promises us that He will provide. There is a lot in this world that can cause anxiety and while the easy thing might be to sit and worry, the fact is that most of us cannot control much of the sources of our anxiety. Instead, we must accept what we cannot change and greet with gratitude the opportunities that do come our way, knowing that each one came from God.
As for the anxiety, it is not failing that I live with a mental illness. To me, the language in Matthew is less a commandment than a reassurance of God’s promise to us. It is something for us to hold with us as comfort, something for us to strive for as we continuously attempt to walk closer to God.
And I hope it can be something that offers all of you comfort as well.
The Dark Tales Project 