Peace and Anxiety

Monday, we began the second half of an accountability reboot. Steve had already poked and prodded my core values, helped me come up with some really good goals, thinks which I think would make me a better person, but now it was his turn. As you might imagine, I don't like to do anything unprepared, so before the call I began writing down the questions off of each of his core value. What does peace give you? What do you need to make peace a part of your life? What are you willing to change for peace?

I looked them over. The brass ring, what makes that core value, valuable. What are the obstacles that keep you from grabbing the ring? What are the changes to let you overcome the obstacle. It would do, I thought, it connected the dots between a value and a goal.

I step into the Maple conference room, for a little privacy and make the call. It doesn't take long for us to dive in, we have limited time. So, I ask the questions, plus a few questions to get more detail and suddenly I'm learning something, not just about Steve, but about the workings of peace and anxiety.

Think for a moment about peace. Not a cease fire between nations, but a true inner peace with the way things are. I am not a highly anxious person, but when I think about the time I have been anxious, it has been because peace is gone. In the time when I have had unjustified anger, it has been because peace is gone. This was the truth Steve had found and it meant change for him. A big change if needed. Without peace, everything could trigger anxiety, not bad news, even the silence that could indicate their might be bad news. This resonated with me, if the lens is wrong, everything looks wrong. It is suddenly realizing you enemy is your friend. When the lens of peace is missing, it takes nearly nothing to trigger racing, draining concern.

So, I was very pragmatic in this conversation. I asked about his job, his home, the things which might be causing him stress. We even talked about the measure of change he would endure to find peace, but as we wrapped up the call, something was missing. It was clear this was an internal change which needed to take place, but we were hinting at a goal to change external circumstance. I kept thinking, these things won't matter, it is the peace that makes those circumstances better.

It would be a couple days, going through the other core values, before we would be able to come back to this, before we could talk about a goal. When we did, it was obvious he had been thinking about this to. He immediately set a goal of starting his day by praying for peace and reading appropriate scriptures. What should have been obvious to me, wasn't, but it was to him.

See, while the world is thrusting a variety of problems at us, draining us, sometime even making us sick with worry, it is God who has the answer. Paul understood this when he was addressing some of the stress which was going on in the church of Corinth, "For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints," (1 Corinthians 14:33). There should be peace, not strife. This isn't because of what we do natively, this is because we have personal access to the God of Peace.

If someone's bad driving, your kids messy room, you employees excuses or the foolishness which go on in Washington are causing you stress and anxiety, it is because you are not holding onto the peace of God. You might consider starting your day the way Steve is, with prayer for peace, because if you can't get it from God, you certainly won't get it anywhere else.

My iron has been sharpened, thanks, Steve.