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 our mind,
drains our enthusiasm,
and deadens our soul.
It pretends to stir up our souls,
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.
From: Set Your Heart Free – The Practical Spirituality of Francis de Sales
