“DON’T Worry.” September 24, 2007

“… and free us from all useless anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.”

How many times have I heard this said in Sunday mass? How often have I mouthed along through the liturgy, passing by this simple phrase. For a long time it seemed only religious rhetoric, a logical progression of words leading up to the consecration. Once a simple phrase – now profound invitation, for I spent the majority of my weekend in an anxiety attack of not-so-small proportions. What began with one relatively minor concern soon devolved into petty annoyance followed by major irritation culminating into a full-scale hissy fit. Over what? Useless anxiety. But how utterly simple to ask to be free from it. Free from worry. Free from fear. Free from the shackles of anxiety? After all, anxiety grants nothing and consumes everything. Paranoid hypotheticals cultivate weeds of thought. Once those roots take hold, the weeds will freely take their course, running rampantly across the landscape, allowing little room for anything of substance to grow. Negativity inevitably crowds out potential and blocks the warm, soothing comfort of light. Ultimately the anxious overgrowth is the focal point of this garden, not the beauty suffocating beneath. But there is hope. There is joyful hope. When we ask to be freed from a useless thing, the answers will come. The Weed Killer does arrive. For anxiety surely is useless… and weeds aren’t in the Big Guy’s landscaping plans.