A non- anxious presence

A non-anxious presence.

Someone once said that life is what happens to you when you plan something else.  This has never been more true!   We all feel anxious at this time of uncertainty.   It is very natural as individuals and families but also for employers, anyone working in the NHS and of course the Government.  It is unavoidable, but how can we live with it in a way that is healthy ?   Here is just one idea…we may look at others over the coming weeks.



A few days ago I heard this definition of anxiety in a talk:  Anxiety is grasping for control of what we do not have in the future..   I think we can be rightfully concerned, and especially NHS staff coming into work and not knowing if the right equipment will be there have every right to be concerned.  But to be anxious leaves us feeling depleted and powerless and achieves nothing in itself.  We need to do all we can do but if there’s no further action we can take then what’s next?



I’ll run the full quote now so as you get the second half of it:  Anxiety is grasping for control of what we do not have in the future.  Gratitude is being thankful for what we have in the present.  



Being thankful for what we do have helps us to focus on what we can do and what our lives have in them, both past and present.  It also helps to switch our attention to the good things that have come into our life as gift and grace, unworked for and not in our control.  



What isn’t expected, isn’t planned for, can be a source of much of the joy and goodness of what makes life special.  . The freely given love and friendship of others, those special moments of natural beauty, our families, the serendipity of chance encounters, God moments, our health and strength, rich memories and so on.   



Why don’t you take a moment to think of three things that you can be thankful for that came as a surprise, a gift.



Being grateful is a great antidote to anxiety, without diminishing at all the circumstances that make us anxious we choose to focus on other facts that we can point to as more real. Paul sums this up well in Philippians 4:6   Do not be anxious but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God.



A non-anxious presence describes someone who lives in the midst of difficult circumstances but does not let these define them.   They are grateful for what they have and also see the unknown, what they hadn’t planned for, as a potential source of blessing.

Perhaps in our conversations with others during this time of isolation we can sometimes be that non anxious presence.   Not by denying the uncertainties but by also being grateful for the certainties, .and peering ahead in hope through the fog for undiscovered, sunlit lands.