Turning Anxiety Upside Down

“Some people feel guilty about their anxieties and regard them as a defect of faith. I don’t agree at all. They are afflictions, not sins. Like all afflictions, they are, if we can so take them, our share in the Passion of Christ”

― C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer

As a child who was educated in the old parochial school way, I was often told when I was anxious and worried to “offer it up.” For an eight year old that was a most difficult and nearly impossible philosophy. As I have grown older I have come to appreciate the wisdom and true meaning of that philosophy. We all know that trails and anxieties are part of living. In the midst of those soul shaking times we have some decisions to make. Do we “offer it up” or wallow in guilt or pain?

Lewis knew that many people were spiritually trained to consider any anxiety to be a sinful flaw in their lives. He urges us, however, to make these a vehicle to journey into the passion of the Christ. How different would life be for us if we could adopt this philosophy? Anxious days would become days of prayer and, difficult times would be time of getting to know God better. After all, knowing God is the core objective of our spiritual journey. Paul tells us to let our anxious times be a catalyst for prayer. “Don’t be anxious about anything; rather bring up all your requests to God in your prayers and petitions along with giving thanks.”(Philippians 4:6) Our anxieties can serve us rather than us serving them. Let your troubled times illuminate the nearness of God who is so near that we can feel His pain just as He feels ours.

Lord, let every anxious moment drive me closer to you so that I might experience your passion. As I walk with you in your passion, I am made strong to walk on this earth. Today, guide me to offer up my anxiety to you so that I might experience you. Amen

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