Fung Fu Anxiousness

Have you ever overheard your children's movie and thought, "wow - okay God. I hear you." No? Okay so maybe not that common if you're watching Caillou or Disney princesses. But this did happened to me the other day.

I was cooking dinner and the kids were watching Kung Fu Panda.
"Everybody was kung fu fighting..." Oh wait. That's not where I was going.

Okay, so I was cooking dinner and Oogway and Shifu were talking by the peach tree.

"My friend, [you] will never fulfill [your] destiny, until you let go of the illusion of control. ... I can plant the seed in the ground, cover it with soil, and nurture it with water and sunlight. But I cannot make the tree blossom when it suits me nor make it bear fruit before its time."

"Let go of the illusion of control." Immediately that still small voice said, "Who's in control? You?" And then gently and tenderly, "Certainly not." You can plant and nurture, but YOU can not make that tree bear fruit.

I can worry about my finances, or my kids education or social skills. I can plan and strategize about where we're going today, tomorrow and next month. I can micromanage the details until I'm sick of my own calendar and schedule. But it's still not going to put me in any more control over the un-controllable.

Those things I'm worried over, like my mother-in-laws aging health, I can't control one bit.

Anything sounding familiar here?

Sounds a lot like the monks story in Calm My Anxious Heart, "Thou hast made it and Thou dost know." God made all these things that weigh me down, these things which cause my anxious heart to spiral out of control, and feel completely overwhelmed. He knows exactly what's going on. Not only does he causes the peach tree to grow and bear fruit, but he does it for me too.

Who better to put my trust in than the one who knows me fully?

Psalm 139

1 O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. 5 You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. 7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. 11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. 13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. 17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

Sweet Sisters! Why do we worry so. He made us. He knows us. He is with us. His hand is upon us. He has ordained our days. What in the world is there to worry about?

So take whatever it is He's whispering to you about right now. And let Him handle it.

^{Phillipians 4:6-7} Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

May it be so for you and for me, today!