Advent 10 - Leaving anxious thoughts outside in the cold
By Jane Kirby
December is meant to be a joy-filled month - full of Christmas cheer and everything in between. Yet it can also become crammed with activities.
Carol services and nativities, Christingle and Midnight Mass, work parties and festive gatherings - all fill the calendar as we count down to Christmas Day. It’s a beautiful season, but one that can easily stretch us beyond our usual capacity and leave us feeling overwhelmed.
When our lives are this full, anxious thoughts can quietly slip in through the back door - and before we know it, they have made themselves at home.
In any season, but especially, and perhaps even more importantly at Christmas, we can hold onto this invitation and promise from Jesus:
‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.’ Matthew 11:28
His full and total rest is what we need and what we have access to. So how can we find it when we’re really busy?
Here are some simple steps I find have helped me as I navigate any anxious thoughts:
Have a cup of tea with Jesus. Or coffee, or a hot chocolate, or any one of your favourite beverages. Light a candle. Sit in your favourite chair with a comfy blanket and tell Jesus about your day, your worries and any anxious thoughts. Ask him to hold onto them for you, so that you can leave them with him.
Get into the flow. What exactly does that mean? To engage in an activity that you enjoy that allows your mind to rest. For me it’s sewing patchwork, for others it might be doing a jigsaw, or colouring or painting or doing sudoku . . . take your pick.
Be outside. I love walking in the winter months, the feeling of the cold fresh air against my face. Exercise of any sort is good and helpful for our minds and especially so if we’re outside. For me, I love the feeling after a brisk walk - going inside into the warm and having a cuppa! It always makes me feel better, even if it’s raining.
Finally, the best and most powerful step for me is to pray through the promises that we find in the Bible and apply them to my life:
Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father
Thank you that I can come to you any minute of the day and night, and especially when I’m feeling weary and burdened. That you promise me that when I do, I will find rest.
May I live this month believing in and acting on that truth.
In you I can be rested. In you I can lay all of my worries down knowing that you take them on.
I release all of what’s going on in my mind to you.
Amen
Say Goodbye To Anxiety
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