As we all found at the beginning of September, when the Castle Fete (and what a good day that was!) and the summer holidays were all behind us, returning from holiday and getting back into the daily routine is often not the easiest of times - especially when we see the pile of letter-box mail and e-mails! The benefits of our relaxation on holiday can all too quickly have become lost as we packed our memories away with the photographs and holiday clothes, anxious to get on with things again and to deal with the many outstanding things waiting for action from us. Indeed, the anxiety may lead to a kind of worry about all the things that need to be done.
People often say, “Don’t worry. Things will work out fine.”
However, we do worry and cannot stop just because someone tells us to. We wish that we could stop worrying but don’t know how. It is very difficult to turn off our anxious minds. One of the least helpful ways to stop worrying is to try hard not to think about the things we are worrying about. We cannot simply push away our worries with our minds.
The one thing we generally have on holiday is space - space for ourselves and our thoughts - yes and for God! We all of us need such space amidst the daily routine of our lives, too - a time to reflect, to be open to God’s Presence, to read the Bible, to turn our worrying into prayer.
The reality of our living is that our minds are never likely to be totally free from worries of some kind or another. Jesus, though, tells us not to worry but to set our hearts on God’s kingdom first (Matthew VI, 25f). In that invitation there is surely more than a hint as to the right direction away from our anxieties.
May your space and time be richly blessed.