A Practical Walk

There’s a concept that I’ve been mulling over. It’s nothing new, but it really has hit me in mulitple areas of life lately. It’s the concept that sometimes the more we want to stop something, the more we end up fixating on it, making it worse.

Take a diet for example, which a lot of people are going to be considering now that the holidays are wrapping up and New Years is right around the corner. Years ago when I used an app to help me count my calories, my least favorite part was how often my mind was on food, the very thing I was trying to eat less of. How many calories have I eaten today? How many are left? I had a bigger than usual breakfast, I guess lunch will need to be less. I’m hungry, what can I eat that won’t eat away too many of today’s allotted calorie count?

Calorie couting can be a useful way to gain, loose, or maintain weight, but overall I’ve decided my preferred method is simply to keep junk food out of my house, cook at home and try to keep my portions reasonable. I’ve found that the more I have to think about what I’m eating (or not eating) the more miserable I am.

I don’t share this as a New Year’s healthy lifestyle tip, I share it because it reminds me of other areas of my life. For example, I’ve actually worried about worry. I’ve been so panicked I might have a panic attack, I’ve started feeling like one was coming on!

At times I’ve been weighed down with concerns that I start to pray (seems like a good idea, right?) and then I just keep repeating the concerns over and over again in a prayer and end up even more overwhelmed. Instead of telling God my concerns and then moving on to giving praise or dwelling on Him, I just use prayer as an excuse to keep worrying.

I liked what Gretchen Saffles said in her book:

“Sometimes I wonder how many moments we miss with Jesus because we’re so distracted by our own shortcomings.” – The Well-Watered Woman by Gretchen Saffles

I feel a little rambly, but here’s what I’m trying to say: Sometimes we get so obsessed with correcting wrong behavior that we actually end up spending more time thinking about the problem than thinking about our heavenly Father.

I’ve found the Psalms very helpful in shifting my focus. Sometimes I read them at night, the time I do my very best worrying. They help me to pause thinking about myself for a moment and think about God. They feel like a little lullaby that sooths my worries as I remember He’s my Shepherd (Ps. 23), my shelter (Ps. 73:28), my refuge (Ps. 46:1), my hiding place (Ps. 32:7), and my shield (Ps. 18:30)

What do you find helpful to shift your thinking?