"Relax. When you're all tense, I can see you coming."

The brown belt I'd sparred came up to me after class and shared that advice. And he was right -- when your muscles are tense, they're "locked", as it were, so it's harder to move them quickly and easier to notice them moving. You have to "unlock" them and reposition them -- a process that's slower than starting from muscles that are already loose.

I've been trying since then to make a conscious effort to relax my muscles and loosen up; as a result I've noticed how very stiff and tense I tend to be. Shoulders up slightly, neck tensed -- it's bad for my posture and bad for my form. The trick, in a fight (or a sparring match), is to be confident. Don't stand up and think "oh man, this guy is gonna pound me." Instead, relax -- watch your opponent and work with your own skills to counter his.

 

The same is true of how I live my life sometimes. I get too tense -- school, work, and any other obligations crowd out my mind and I get overwhelmed as I look ahead at the scope of what's required. I stare down the calendar at the next test or deadline and tense up -- "oh man," I think, "this schedule is gonna kill me."

 

The solution is the same: relax and have confidence. But this time, the confidence is a bit higher and better -- the confidence is in Christ.

It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.  -Psalm 127:2

Anxiety is vain. God gives rest to His beloved. He created the cosmos with a perfect design, He ordains every moment in its perfect arrangement for His purpose -- a purpose that is by definition good. He gave His own Son to suffer unimaginably, die, and be resurrected; to face temptation, persecution, and death; all for this same great purpose.

 

And what does that Son of God tell us?

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing?

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'

For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.   -- Matthew 6:25-34

God will grant us perfect provision. He has appointed each hour and knows what we require in it -- will He who gave us His Son not keep us? Do we really esteem Him so little that we find Him not to be trustworthy? Do we esteem Christ's sacrifice as of so little value that we suppose that God would throw it away on His creations that He did not intend to keep? If God provides for the birds and the fields, how much more will He provide for those beneficiaries of Christ's death?

He knows the plans He has for us, and they are to give us hope and a future, as Jeremiah 29:11 says. He works all things together for the good of those He loves -- those He called according to His purpose, says Romans 8:28. These are verses that most of us have memorized and have repeated often. Stop repeating them and think about them for a moment! In these verses is ultimate peace.

To worry and become anxious despite what God has promised is not just nervous and unnecessary -- it's sin. It's doubting God's power, His goodness, or His truth. God does not lie when He says that He works all things for our good. He is not too weak to carry out these plans. He is not evil, that He would seek our harm. When you're so mentally entangled in anxiety over the problems of life that you become tense and despair, stop and repent -- you've doubted God. How many times have you faced hardship, and how many times has He brought you through? Then pray -- pray for faith in Him, for focus on Him and His glory, and strength to trust Him.

 

Then relax.