The Lord told me the funniest thing last week. In such a kind and compassionate way, He told me to, “Lighten up.” What? Really? Did I hear that right?

Who me? I’m not worried…

I know we’re not supposed to worry, and I put a lot of effort into not worrying, sometimes without much success, really. My mind returns to the problem over and over. But even if I catch myself, and if I’m sincerely praying about something and speaking in faith about it, I often still have this underlying intensity. I walk around with a heaviness in my heart. Sometimes it comes from fear. Sometimes the tension comes from trying so hard to not be afraid. Which means, I’m missing the whole point.

If I give something to God and believe that He’s handling it, I can let go of it. I can even choose to relax and smile because everything is going to be ok. I could, technically, enjoy the fact that God has everything under control. I could, “lighten up.”

This Tension is What’s Holding Me Together…

I find myself very suspicious of this idea. I think I picked up somewhere along the way that the way I help God is by staying intense about the problem. If I’m not concentrating on it (aka: worrying about it,) if I’m happy and having fun, I’m probably not doing my part.         Silly me.

Of course, I would never want my kids to do that. There are things that I need to handle for them and I want them to trust I’m doing what needs to be done. The whole point is that they don’t have to worry about it.

Believing with Our Emotions

Part of believing God’s Word is believing with our emotions. Even for introverts with trust issues. Do we believe God is at work on our behalf? Then, let’s take a deep breath (and let it out!) and smile because God is “on it.” It’s ok to be happy about all the good things in our life (aka: counting our blessings) and to enjoy ourselves in the midst of a stressful problem or issue because God is absolutely going to work everything out for the very best. (So many Scriptures support this, but just to note two of them: Romans 8:28 & Jeremiah 29:11.)

Maybe I’m the only one who gets over-focused on a problem, but if you’re like me at all, maybe you’ll join me in trying something new: Let’s let our spirits lift as we take some joy in the things around us, trust God ~ and lighten up.

Is there something you need to let go of today? Do you need to “lighten up?”