Thinking about Lovely Things

At church this past Sunday I think I discovered my favorite reading:

"Brothers and sisters: Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.  Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

...whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.  Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me.  Then the God of peace will be with you."

~Philippians 4:6-9

This reading goes along perfectly with what I've been working on: giving myself permission to see the bright side and envision the best possible outcome of things.  Why shouldn't we think about all the true, lovely, gracious, praise-worthy things in our lives?  We should at the very least give as much thought to those things as to the things that make us anxious or upset.

I also like, "Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me."  It implies that we are more capable and spiritually skilled than we may like to give ourselves credit for: Keep on doing what you're doing; trust yourself; you're on the right track.  So often when we stumble, I think we assume we have to start over completely.  The idea of rebuilding ourselves and our sense of sacred safety is overwhelming and can even seem hopeless.  But no misstep, blunder or experience of despair can hit the reset button on what we have already learned and received in the name of God.  Our journey never goes backwards.  We keep continuing down the path.

I told my mother I think I'm making progress because when I'm anxious about something, I'm starting to think, 1. What are the chances ___ will actually happen, and 2. If something bad does happen, what are the chances I won't be able to handle it?  Slim.  I am well-equipped with faith, an unconditionally loving support system, personal intelligence and resilience, self-awareness, budding (and soon-to-be-flourishing) self-acceptance, creativity and an appreciation for meaningful challenges.

Anxiety has a way of demoralizing our gifts--the ones we've earned as well as those we have graciously been given.  But when I saw our little one last Monday stretching and wiggling on the ultrasound screen, I came to believe that some gifts are so precious that fear takes a backseat to love.