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| Anxiety from Inside Out 2 |
Here is the little-known
truth about anxiety:
it isn't only a problem
we wish would go away;
it is also an opportunity
for spiritual growth.
+ The Anxiety Opportunity
If you've been following some of my recent posts, love, fear, curiosity, and forgiveness have been recurring themes this year. This is not only because 2 Timothy 1:7 (and 1 John 4:18) will be a theme for the rest of my year as a chaplain, but also because the two nonfiction books I focused on reading the most this summer were Love Over Fear and The Anxiety Opportunity.
These two readings, particularly Curtis Chang's The Anxiety Opportunity, complemented two bestselling highlights of 2024, the #1 New York Times Bestseller The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt and the #1 box office hit and #1 animated film of all time Inside Out 2 from Pixar.
Why The Anxious Generation book and a
film where Anxiety is the main character?
Perhaps because
we are the most anxious generation.
So where do we go from here?
Where will our fears and anxiety take us?
Or as another character
from a box office hit said,
If so, where or who will we ride
our fears and anxieties to?
I think Curtis Chang, as someone who has suffered from debilitating anxiety (and had to step away from his vocation due to an increase in panic attacks), is helpful in providing some direction for our hearts, minds, bodies, and souls to continue to walk by faith during such a time as this.
A Surprising Opportunity
Was there ever a period in your life
when you were free of anxiety?
Has a year ever gone by
in which you felt absolutely zero concern
about the future of the world?
Has a month ever passed by
when you never felt even a stab of worry
that perhaps you were failing
or falling behind at something?
when you were free of anxiety?
Has a year ever gone by
in which you felt absolutely zero concern
about the future of the world?
Has a month ever passed by
when you never felt even a stab of worry
that perhaps you were failing
or falling behind at something?
Has a week ever passed without
a moment of unease about
what someone else may be thinking
about you or
whether someone is displeased
about something you said or did?
All humans exist somewhere
on the anxiety spectrum.
On one end of the spectrum, some individuals live with so much anxiety that it feels like it's a part of who they are. Some may have been officially diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. On the other end, people balk at any description of themselves as "anxious," preferring to describe themselves as "occasionally stressed" or by some other label. Many people fall somewhere in between — people who may admit to a tendency to anxiety in certain situations or around certain topics, but not in or around other situations or topics.
Regardless of the intensity, regularity, or labeling of your anxiety, we've all suffered this condition. It is a universal human problem.
But here is the little-known truth
about anxiety:
it isn't only a problem
we wish would go away;
it is also an opportunity
for spiritual growth.
In fact, for a Christian,
anxiety is one of the
most powerful opportunities
for transformation
we'll ever encounter.
My most transformative growth
as a follower of Jesus
has happened because of anxiety.
This doesn't mean anxiety is good
— that would be a ludicrous idea
for anyone who has experienced
anything similar to what I experienced.
Anxiety is not good, and
even a book called The Anxiety Opportunity
should not pretend that it is good or claim
that God causes this condition for our good.
But Jesus is our Redeemer,
which means He can redeem something
that is not good originally
into something that benefits
us ultimately.
With Jesus,
we can experience anxiety
as an opportunity
for transformation.
Broadly speaking, (some people) have been taught to consider anxiety in one of two ways — either as an obstacle or as irrelevant to spiritual growth.
I also want to emphasize that we absolutely should treat anxiety as a legitimate health condition. I have benefited from both cognitive behavioral therapy with secular therapists and medication prescribed by doctors. I am all for lowering anxiety through these medical means.
But even some secular mental health leaders are starting to recognize that treating anxiety solely as a problem is counterproductive. Listen to Dr. Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, a leading researcher in the field:
As a clinical psychologist
and neuroscience researcher,
I have devoted the past 20 years
to understanding difficult emotions
like anxiety, and I believe that
we mental health professionals
have made a terrible mistake.
We've convinced people that anxiety
is a dangerous affliction and
that the solution is to eliminate it,
as we do with other diseases.
But feeling anxious isn't the problem.
The problem is that we don't understand
how to respond constructively to anxiety.
That's why it's increasingly hard
to know how to feel good.
Both Christian and secular approaches miss "anxiety as opportunity" — the ways we can grow spiritually through anxiety. Anxiety is not an obstacle to spiritual maturity. It is not some moral flaw we must get rid of in order to grow toward Jesus. Anxiety is also not irrelevant — as if our mental health were disconnected from our spiritual health. Anxiety can be the very place where we meet Jesus.
This is not a promise that you can "pray your anxiety away" ... Anxiety will most likely be an ongoing — perhaps daily — issue for you as well. In fact, ironically, the more you accept this reality, the less anxious you will probably feel.
Meeting Jesus in Our Anxiety
In the gospel of Mark, by my count, there are twenty-nine approaches to Jesus ... fifteen were marked by strong textual evidence of anxiety: (1) found in words explicitly describing anxiety (such as the word fear); (2) in Jesus' eventual response to the people in which He revealed what was really going on, such as when He says, "Peace ... "; or (3) in actions strongly correlated with anxiety, such as form of the verb implore, which conveys a state of emotional distress.
People approach Jesus
through their anxiety.
Anxiety is not an obstacle
and it is not irrelevant
to getting closer to Jesus —
it is the very entrance point
for spiritual growth.
Think again about the life situations
that fill you with uncertainty
and nervousness.
It turns out Jesus works there ...
The best example of Jesus serving as the tour guide of our anxiety is found in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:25-34). ... The spiritual essence of anxiety is summarized in the first verse of this message: "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on" (Matthew 6:25 ESV). In the subsistence economy of Jesus' day, people lived with the possibility they could lose essentials like food, drink, and clothes. In our abundance economy, we fear losing other things. Some of the things are bodily essentials, such as health, but our fear of loss encompasses more abstract things as well, such as status, a comfortable retirement, and a sense of belonging.
Anxiety is a fear of loss.
Regardless of the nature
of objects we fear losing,
the spiritual essence of anxiety
is our very human worry
that we may lose something
we value.
What is it that I fear losing?
... Is it the fear of losing your health,
some spiritual status, reputation,
safety, financial provision,
or something else?
There's one more key element
— the timing of this feared loss.
Notice how often Jesus emphasizes the
future dimension of the feared loss
— what you will eat, will drink,
and will wear.
Anxiety is about tomorrow,
the future.
Anxiety tries to make us fear
something that could happen later.
Jesus might say your anxieties
abduct you from the present
and carry you into some
imagined future scenario.
Consider again the specific worry you just identified. Ask yourself,
To which time frame
is this anxiety
taking me?
Is it the past,
the present,
or the future?
The Blueprint Vs. The Architect
Think of anxiety as a kind of blueprint whereas all architectural blueprints depict a future scenario of gain — a new home or building that will be built — the anxiety blueprint is a future scenario loss.
And because what is being drawn
is a scenario of something
that doesn't exist yet,
there is no current reality
to constrain what our minds
can draw up.
Anxiety can constantly revise its drawings. In periods of life when the future feels especially uncertain and unconstrained, anxiety can roam ever further into the future and devise one new scary scenario after another. The more we allow anxiety to draw and redraw such blueprints of loss, the crazier these pictures get ...
When Jesus teaches
about anxiety in Matthew 6,
He realizes His listeners
are fixated on getting the blueprint
of our future as it pertains to things
— what you will eat, what you will drink,
what you will wear (verse 25).
Notice what Jesus does.
He seeks to shift His listeners to the who.
He redirects them to the present reality
and character of their Father God. ...
Jesus reminds them they have a Father
who cares for them, sees them,
and knows them.
The difference is between the what and the who is the difference between a blueprint and an architect. ... Anxiety is an opportunity for any Christian to grow from just wanting the blueprint to wanting the Architect.
The Hijack & The Present
I have found that it is very difficult to reconfigure our imagination of the future when our minds are still in the tight grip of the hijacker. When we are in the throes of anxiety, such mental calculations easily get abducted into more worrying. We first need a twist in the rescue plan.
Get present.
Leaving the future deprives the hijacker
of its hold over us.
We refuse to fight anxiety head-on
in the future but instead
walk away from the terrain altogether.
Modern psychological research
and therapy methods have
validated this insight:
You cannot feel anxious
when you are fully present.
When you read accounts of
elite pilots, special forces operators,
firefighters, and other highly trained
individuals who face harrowing,
life-threatening crises,
they often describe a moment
when they focus entirely on
the task at hand.
They refuse to be hijacked
into the future and instead
get entirely present.
For example, when Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and copilot Jeff Skiles accomplished one of the most miraculous emergency landings in history (i.e. "Miracle on the Hudson" on US Airways Flight 1549 depicted in Clint Eastwood's Sully), Captain Sullenberger said he was able to pull of this amazing crash landing by focusing on the now:
I never had any extraneous thoughts
in those few seconds that we had.
I didn't allow myself to and
I didn't have any inclination to. ...
I never thought about anything other
than controlling the flight path and
solving each problem in turn until,
finally, we had solved them all. ...
I think ... the training and the experience
... develops in you an ability to summon up
from somewhere within this ability
to create a sense of calm ...
Elite personnel like Captain Sullenberger receive highly specialized training in how to get fully present. In Matthew 6, Jesus gives His audience a training method that is universally accessible. Here Jesus teachers His followers to leave the imaginary future, the time frame that makes them worried about what they will eat or drink or wear. ... Instead He wants us to get present: "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself" (v. 34 ESV).
Leave tomorrow — the future.
Get back to today — the present.
All of the specific encouragements Jesus provides in the Sermon on the Mount are invitations to His listeners to stop imagining fearful scenarios and be present to God in the here and now.
Paying Close Attention to Nature
Everyone can access the natural world God created. Jesus especially encourages people to learn how to get present by paying close attention to nature. Getting present to nature reverses the hijack from the shadowy future because nature is about the Now.
Nature organically leads us to get present to the Architect of all creation. Paying attention to creation reminds us that our present reality is filled with the Creator's loving care. Nature is filled with signs that God is constantly providing for His entire creation. Even if you live in an urban environment, you can walk outside right now and observe in nature a multitude of signs that God is constantly providing for us — from the very air that fills our lungs with life-giving oxygen to the sun that warms our skin. This is a powerful rebuttal to anxiety's bullying threats, which are usually about things being taken away from us.
The present reality of God's creation
— not the shadowy imaginary future
— is the playground the Father
designed for His children.
Jesus encourages His followers to get present to nature. He tells us in Matthew 6:26, "Look at the birds of the air" — not in a distracted fashion as background scenery for our internal anxiety — but with intent. Looking intentionally means perceiving the true lesson seen in the life of the birds. They are small, fragile creatures sustained right now by the Father. Jesus tells us in verse 28 to "consider (really pay attention to) the lilies of the field" (ESV). Don't use them as background scenery for your anxious thoughts. Stop, observe, smell, and absorb their glory, their stunning beauty that reflects the Creator's care.
Try this now.
Set a timer for 60 seconds,
and for this duration,
look out your window and
really be present to what you see.
Notice the shifting shape
of the clouds,
the particular hue of the sky,
the fluttering shapes of the leaves,
or whatever is present
in your corner of creation.
Consider how much anxiety
you experienced during
those 60 seconds.
If you actually get present
to nature like this,
you can experience a minute
of freedom from anxiety.
We were made to have this response.
A large body of research shows
that human beings seem to be
hardwired at an unconscious level
to feel greater calm in nature.
When Christians combine this
unconscious wiring with a
conscious appreciation of the
Creator Himself,
they are armed with a
powerful reminder of
God's presence in the Now.
The more you do this in your life,
the more you will free yourself
from anxiety's hijack to the future.
And the more you will open
yourself to the loving,
reassuring presence of the Father
— just as Jesus promised.
Don't stay in the future
because you want
to avoid loss in the future
more than you want
to embrace a Friend in the present.
Spiritual growth is about a relationship with a loving God, and no intimate relationship grows in the imaginary future. Relationships only grow in the present — when we get present to the other. It is true with other humans. It is true with God.
+ from Curtis Chang
The Anxiety Opportunity:
A Surprising Opportunity
&
Meeting Jesus in Our Anxiety,
pgs. 8-11, 17, 20-27, 32-35, 39
Bonus Quote
Anxiety came come
out of nowhere.
Get busy, get distracted,
and you can forget God.
Forget God, and you lose
your mind and your peace.
Forget God, and
all you remember is anxiety.
Anxiety can give you God-Alzheimer's.
Forget the face of God,
and you forget your own name
is Beloved.
Bonus Podcast
w/ Brenna Blain & JHP
Bonus Song Lyrics:
+ Jess Ray, 2024 A.D.
Look at the birds,
They never sow or reap.
They never sow or reap.
Look at the flowers,
They never toil or spin.
There's not a day
They don't have what they need.
Are you not worth
Even more than them?
Even more than them?
Don't you know
That your Father in heaven
Knows just what you're needing?
Seek Him first and everything else
That you need will be given.
Don't you see, He loves you much more
Than the lilies and sparrows?
Come and rest, don't waste today
Being scared of tomorrow.
(Repeat Verse + Chorus)
All this worry
Won't buy you anything.
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With presence and peace in Christ, Rev. Mike “Sully” Sullivan Email Pastor Mike | Website | Visit Us | Support Us | Facebook Us |
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