Olive Crest United Methodist Church
7180 North 60th Street
Omaha, Nebraska 68152

Our Pastor

Rev. Debra Tompsett-Welch

Need a Daycare?

Hearts

Minds

Doors

The Spiritual Life

March 2002

Major Appliances, getting ready for Easter & learning to trust God

By Rev. Michael Lee Burgess

I have been looking back on this month and thinking about anxiety and trust and which emotional choice gets more work done. Since it is Lent, the time of preparing for Easter, I am also thinking about the phrase, "Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength . . ."

Anxiety can come in the simplest disguise. It can look like all kinds of ordinary, normal looking problems. But the problem itself is not anxiety, anxiety is a response to the problem, and that means that other responses are possible. Hmmm. For me it started with the clothes dryer at the parsonage. The darn thing was made back when my mom was a little girl (well probably not. Did they have dryers back then?). But anyway it was having problems. It took forever and made grinding noises and I was becoming anxious about it. Looking back I don't know why it was so important. If you ran the dryer two, three or four times the clothes got dry, so why was I fussing? But I did. When I brought it up in Trustees they mentioned that we really ought to get a matched set and that was between $800 and $1,400 dollars. Whoa. That's a lot of money. I had gotten a printout of the Consumer Reports reviews on dryers, but had not thought about the set idea. A set is a good idea, but boy that's a lot of money. We decided to postpone making a decision and do some more research and thinking. But I am still anxious. The problem is being worked on, and a solution will be found, so why am I anxious? Don't I trust that the problem can be fixed?

Well time goes on and the dryer develops a fatal illness. It starts making electrical burning smells, (you know, the smoky kind) and the drum bearing seal falls out. We unplugged it and dragged it out of the alcove, but what do we do now? Kurt strung up some clothes lines in the furnace room. Then Mom mentioned that there was an old dryer over in the house at Elkhorn that wasn't being used. So we truck on over to Elkhorn, drag it out, toss it in the van, run back to Omaha, carry it downstairs, struggled the vent connections together, and low and behold, it works. And it is even a bigger dryer, so that is good. It is ugly as sin, but we have a working dryer again and because the barrel is bigger, the clothes are not as wrinkled. That is great, problem solved. But I am thinking of this set idea. But boy a new set seems like a lot of money that we could use for more important things, like new lights for the Sunday School classrooms. Then a few days later Gabrielle mentions that her father-in-law wants to sell his washer and dryer for a real good price for the set and they are only about three years old. I go over and look at them on her front porch. They look good, and they match, and they are white. This is great, done deal. Wow. Now why was I anxious again?

This happens so often, something always works out. God always takes care of me, so why do I get so anxious? I think part of the problem is the patience thing. (Patience really is not a very common gift in my experience.) I have a need, a problem to be fixed, and I am working on it. But I don't see immediate progress so I assume there will never be any progress. I get afraid that the problem will never be fixed, and the fear expresses itself as anxiety. This is not adult thinking, but the small child inside me that runs my emotions. We all have this emotional self and we have to pay attention to it or find it running us around.

To make this even more complex, part of the problem is I am not giving God enough time to fix the problem, I am not trusting God. I know God loves me, and that my problems are things that God is concerned about. I also know that God is trying to make things come together for the best for everyone. God can take my efforts and magnify them with other peoples honest and loving work and build a more just world, where needs are met, and justice is done. But since we are all involved in this it takes a bit of time. So if I have chosen to live my life in harmony with God's work, then why can I not do like St. Benedict suggested and "work and pray" in confidence?

Well I can, but first I need to take some time to help out the small child that runs my emotions. What you do for a little child who is anxious? You reassure him. You spend time with him and tell him things are going to be all right and that you are here for him. How do you do that for your own inner child? One way is to talk to yourself about God. I find I have to remind myself, to actually tell myself that I am not alone with my fears and anxieties; God is with me in them. I am not the only one working on the problem; God is also working on them. If I would renew my strength like eagles, then that child inside needs to know he is not alone and we can take risks and grow. And he needs to be told that again and again, and most importantly by myself. In the old language of the church this is called "assurance", like the hymn "Blessed Assurance." This is the knowledge that God is with you and you are never alone. This is both a spiritual gift and a discipline to be practiced to make it whole. To help us practice it, we work in this time of Lent paying attention to where God is in our lives. Another help is to gather as the family of God to remember we are never alone and we do this in Worship. Other fruitful disciples are Bible study, time in prayer, meditation, and journaling, all of which help make you more conscious of the presence of God in your life and in the lives of others. A strong consciousness of the loving presence of God will drive out anxiety, even the small kinds like dryers. All you have to do is remember to let God help and open the eyes of your heart.

In this time of Lent, remember to tell your emotional self, "you are not alone", and those "who wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength like eagles." It really will help bring you peace.

Your brother-in-Christ, Rev. Michael Lee Burgess

Upcoming Events