Anxiety Closet

Anyone remember the comic strip "Bloom County" by Berke Breathed? It was my favorite comic strip when I was in college. I read it every day in the Ball State Daily News. Actually, it was the only comic the Daily News ran at that time, but I became a quick fan. I still have a stuffed Opus in my office, and somewhere I have all the books of the complete run. Bloom County was filled with curious characters, and was filled with wry observations and political commentary. I think, in some ways, it was the "Doonesbury" of my generation.

One of the characters in that quirky county was Binkley, and frequently the story would return to this boy who had his own Anxiety Closet. At night, when he was supposed to be sleeping, his anxieties would come out of the closet in his room to torment him. (This was long before Monsters, Inc., where we learned it's really monsters who come out of our closets at night.) Binkley often lost sleep due to these projections of his own anxieties.

Do you have an anxiety closet? I found out last night I apparently do. Oh, I've always known I was a top-notch worrier (one of those spiritual issues I'm constantly working on), but last night was different. Lots of things swirling around in my head. Many thoughts as I sought to work through various things. And while I didn't actually have critters walking out of the closet to speak to me as Binkley did, the anxieties that showed up made sure I had a restless night.

Every time I hear (or preach) a sermon about not worrying, I want to shout out, "Easy for you to say!" (That would be really awkward if it was actually me preaching...) But I keep going back to and clinging to the verse in 1 Peter: "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you" (5:7). The word there that's translated as "cast" is really a continual command: keep casting. Because anxieties (other translations say "cares," but that's not strong enough!) keep coming, we have to keep casting. And not taking back. I'm really good at casting—then reeling them back in. And do you know why? Because I don't pay enough attention to the verse before this one, the one that is connected to this one: "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time" (5:6).

Humble myself—place myself under God's direction and authority. Humble myself—and realize that I am not ultimately in charge, God is. Humble myself—and trust Someone else to get me through. Peter assures us God will lift us up...in due time. In his time. I wish it was in MY time, but it's in his time. On his schedule. According to his calendar.

If I really humble myself, and trust God, that includes trusting God with the things and the people I am worried about. If I trust Him, I won't need to reel all those anxieties back in for my safe keeping. I can leave them with Him.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some casting to do.