Anxiety

Do not let anxiety sabotage

your search for God. 

You know well that when

you search for something too anxiously

you can come upon it a hundred times

without ever seeing it.

Anxiety masquerades as true spiritual energy,

even as it wearies out mind,

drains our enthusiasm,

and deadens our soul.

It pretends to stir up our soul,

but all it does is dampen our spirit.
It pushes us until we stumble over our own feet.

We need to be on the watch for this impostor

that would have us believing

that our spiritual life

depends completely on our efforts,

so that the more panicked we are,

the more anxiously we search,
the more likely we are to find God.

Let God do his part.

Be patient.

Not even our best efforts

can earn the blessings of God.

Our role is to be ready

to receive God’s gifts

with an open heart -

carefully, humbly, and serenely.

Set Your Heart Free - 

The Practical Spirituality

of Francis de Sales

by John Kirvan