Let go of the ketchup bottle.
Do you remember the ketchup commercial "Anticipation?" It showed a little boy holding a bottle of ketchup upside down and waiting for the ketchup to finally pour out onto his plate.
Anticipation means looking forward to something. What are you looking forward to?
Life is some times like the ketchup bottle and we anticipate something’s arrival—like a newborn baby. Sometimes, however, we NEGATIVELY anticipate an event. If we are not careful we can put emphasis on how a life event will turn out negative. The thoughts creep into our minds and weigh down our soul. It is like a dark cloud hanging over us. It is similar to dread, which is to anticipate with with distaste or reluctance.
Do you ever do "negatively anticipate"? Perhaps it has to do with your job or a relationship. Perhaps it is your day-to-day state of mind. Perhaps you were conditioned by your environment growing-up. Whatever it is, negative anticipation has negative consequences because it creates anxiety. Anxiety strips us of our joy and robs us of our freedom to live. It can paralyze us from truly experiencing real life. When I succumb to negative anticipation I open the door to frightening images, paranoid voices, and relentless self-criticism.
Anxiety is worry or uneasiness about something that may happen. For me, worry often appears when there is an absence of peace, or better said, worry is a result of the absence of peace.
Quite possibly we can take the New Testamment's advice on how to lessen our worry. Paul says to pray about everything. To come to God and pour out our hearts to God, but a key point I believe Paul is instructing is for us to "let it go" to God. I often yearn to go into my closet and pray. To be alone in a quiet place with the God who loves me... and I tell God all that is on my heart... sometimes I just sit and breathe in God... and let the peace and security of God fill me. We have to be willing to not just pray--but to let it go to God. If we supply the willingness God will supply the power.
We have to open our hands and let go of what we are clutching and allow God to give us the peace that we so long for. To anticipate that God is ultimately good. God wants to give us life.
(I am out for a few days. Have you read the post below? It is one of my favorites)
2 Comments:
Letting go & letting God could quite possibly be one of the hardest things to do as one of His. I sometimes find that I don't have much trouble finally getting moving in the direction that's He's called as long as I get to carry the worry and anxiety along the way. It's almost like a security blanket for the dead man I drag around most of the time.
Coming to the realization of the differences of having a prayer life versus a leading a life of prayer are huge when considering to pray without ceasing. It took me the longest to realize that God is accessible by cell instead of land line. I guess I had to move this knowlege from my head to my heart to obtain full understanding of this. My conversations with Him are to be housed in prayer closets that are only as small as eternity and are to be in forms of more than my words, but not limited to my thoughts, deeds and emotion.
Oh that we could have the faith of squeezable ketchup...
Rick, do you have a publisher yet?
These are good.
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