Quiet Mornings: Bible Verses and Gentle Reflections for Peaceful Days

the average human heart beats about 100,000 times a day most of the time you don't even notice it it just works in our last conversation we spoke about finding a gentle reading to ground your day in that same kind of quiet rhythm today we're going to talk about what happens when that rhythm gets disrupted by anxiety and how to find your way back to peace here is the reading from philippians chapter four verses six and seven do not be anxious about anything but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to god and the peace of god which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your

minds in christ jesus let's start with those first words because they can feel impossible do not be anxious about anything for most of us that sounds less like an encouragement and more like a command we're already failing to obey but it's not a command to simply stop feeling it's an invitation to a different process it's the beginning of a sentence not the end of one the verse doesn't just say don't worry it says don't worry do this instead and this is a three part action prayer petition and thanksgiving here's what that means for you right now first prayer prayer is the act of turning when anxiety hits your focus narrows the worry fills the entire

room prayer is the simple intentional act of turning your head of shifting your spiritual posture toward god even if you can't see anything yet it's saying i am not alone in this second petition this is where you get specific a petition is not a vague wish for things to be better it's telling god exactly what is wrong it's naming the fear here's what that looks like on a tuesday morning it's not just god help me today it's god i am anxious about this project deadline i'm afraid i'll disappoint my boss i'm worried i don't have what it takes being that honest is itself an act of faith you're trusting god with the raw unedited truth

of your heart and then comes the third step the one that changes everything with thanksgiving this is the pivot this is the move that breaks the power of anxiety in the very same breath that you name your fear you're invited to name a grace here's what that means for you it means finding one small concrete thing to be thankful for right in the middle of the worry i'm anxious about this meeting and i am thankful for the coffee in my hand i am worried about this bill and i am thankful for the sunlight coming through the window it feels almost ridiculously simple but it is profoundly powerful gratitude doesn't deny the problem it denies the problem the right to be the only thing in your reality it insists that grace and goodness are also present right here right now when you do this when you turn when you name the fear and when you name a grace the verse promises something extraordinary and the peace of god which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts

and your minds notice what kind of peace this is it's a peace that transcends understanding that means it's a peace that doesn't make logical sense it's not a peace that arrives because your problems have been solved it's a peace that can exist in the middle of them it's a calm that isn't based on your circumstances and notice what this peace does it will guard your hearts and your minds think of a guard standing watch at the gate of a city the guard doesn't eliminate the enemies outside the walls the guard protects the life inside the walls this peace stands watch over your inner world it keeps your heart from being overrun by fear it keeps

your mind from being captured by spiraling thoughts the peace isn't the absence of the fight it's the security of the fortress while the fight is still going on that is the promise for your day not a day free from trouble but a heart and a mind guarded from being consumed by it that peace is not the absence of trouble it is the presence of god standing guard