     |
|
Worry? Y'know: anxiety, concern, misgivings, vexation - that hunger of the soul that fear feeds until the little courage you have left starts to ebb away. Actually there are a few things that relieve worry. Once as a part of a large operation in the tank corps, a comrade and I were perched atop a small hill. Our task was to observe and report by radio until a delicate phase was reached beyond which there had to be radio silence. Our mission would be done just after sunset at which time we were to be extracted by a jeep that was to approach the hill on the dirt road below. It didn't show up. The sun sank below the horizon and sucked the air temperature down with it. A soft wind and our summer uniforms made it impossible to stay up there. Even down on the road that breeze chilled us to the bone. I spotted a shallow ditch and for two hours we huddled face down in the dirt awaiting the transport. We were tired and hungry. It had been a long day and I figured we could hear the jeep far enough away to be back on our feet and looking "soldierly." I glanced up at the crest of the hill and swallowed hard. A tiny triangle of brilliant white light sat atop that desolate mound. It was a clear night but that triangle drowned the nearby stars. Fighting the urge to jump and run I clenched my eyelids. Oh oh, when I looked again the triangle had grown! "Do you see it?" I whispered and the other soldier cursed an affirmation. Worried? Yeah I was downright scared. The light kept growing. No sound, no flashing, no saucer shape - just a sharp point reaching up into the heavens above an enlarging base spreading over the hilltop. I prayed. I procrastinated. I gulped and made the decision to go back up the hill. The smile hit my face at about the time I got to my feet. The light was the sickle moon rising from behind the hill. The combination of worry, tiredness and hunger has hit me several times since then. When someone says: "Pastor I'm so worried I can't sleep or eat" I recognize a threatening circle. In this case the cure for worry starts with going out and doing hard physical labor or a draining sport event. Get out there! Spend your body's powers until the lead gets into your eyelids. If it doesn't work the first night be back at it again all the next day. Work frantically. I promise you the sleep will return and when you awake your appetite will be back too. Nurture your body's powers, for worry struggles to subjugate a person who is well-rested and well fed. That's not the whole cure - its just the start. Do not cling to the ditch of despair. There comes a moment to get up and face the thing you fear. You are only helpless as long as you remain motionless. Like me that night on the road you may have trembling hands and shallow breath. Perhaps we'll share the experience of facing a fear with no idea or plan in mind as to how we'll overcome the perceived threat. All I know is that the troll in worry wilts ever so slightly when you decide to face the threat that apprehension assumes. Time changes many things about worry. My barber used to have a sign on his mirror: "Today is the time you feared so much yesterday. Not so bad is it?"
A haunting glare became a harmless moon. It just took time. Jesus taught: "Do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." As the time unfolds and you move towards your anxieties, make up your mind to handle the things that you can- even if it seems that such a small amount of action can never defeat the problem you face.
Do what you can. Do it now. I mentioned prayer as well. At the same time as the above Jesus also promised that our Heavenly Father knows what we need. Prayer gets you close to God's heart. Prayer suggests you are not alone in your struggle. Leave the ditch. Worry can be beaten. |
