Can't You Just Sit Still?!

As I write this, I am looking at my three dogs (a Great Pyrenees, a heeler, and a yellow lab), wondering, why in the world can't you just sit still?!

I just let them out literally half an hour ago. We have already played fetch to the point that I got tired watching them run back and forth. You have already eaten, pooped, had a gallon of water, and sniffed every corner of our property. What could you possibly need?

Their restlessness can cause me to feel restless. Did I miss something? Am I wrong for making them wait to go outside? Why am I anxious all of a sudden? Stop ringing the bells to be let out!

I tried the doggy calm down spray with every calming oil I own. I tried fluffing their dog beds and all the pillows on the couch for their comfort (heaven forbid they ever lay on the hardwood floor like an actual dog). I tried calming music. I've petted you until my leggings are covered in all the fur. Tell me what you need!

Some times I wish they could just speak and tell me exactly what they need so that I can just solve the problem and we could all move on. I mean, they speak in their barks and whines and sighing, but I never took Doggy Language 101 in high school. Can't they be more like the cats? Feed me. Pay me attention when I want. Give me a sunny spot to sleep twenty hours out of the day. Don't touch me unless I touch you first.

Whether it be the dogs, kids, life, school, the workout equipment, or just the ever ending list, they all keep calling out for attention. I just want to yell, "Can't you just sit still?!"

Matthew 6:25-27- "25 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? 26 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? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?" (ESV).

Anxiety is ever present in our lives from a subtle hum in our bodies to a crippling fear that keeps us from discovering what God has called us to. I have known the company of the crippling anxiety and it held me captive. I lost myself, my focus in life, and the truth that God had it all in the palm of his hands.

It was through my time digging into the Word, praying and talking to God, and talking to others, that I found I was wasting my hours by worrying about things that God had already taken care of. He has shown me peace in understanding that his ways are higher than mine and all that I do is for his glory.

This can seem almost impossible if you are in the midst of scary or dark or uncertain times. Or even in times of feeling like you are on top of the world and need nothing from God because you are controlling it all. Hold fast to and believe in the certainty that God is here, with you always, and will never leave your side.

John 14:27- "27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid" (ESV).

Peace is the enemy of anxiety. When we are anxious, when we question God, when we try and control all the steps of life, we welcome in fear. We can fall victim to believing in the empty and meaningless promises of life and the false belief that we do not need God.

But when we stand firm in prayer, in spiritual community, in the knowledge of the word that God brought us peace, we can face the anxious, the unknown, and remember that God is in control.

So when I feel anxious because I want to pull at my hair and say to the dogs, to life, to the expectations of the world, "Can't you just sit still?!", I sit in God's presence as I pray for his peace to wash over me. For his will to be done and for all I do to be in his glory. To turn away from anxiety and the temptation of the enemy by knowing deeply that only through God, I find my peace and purpose.

Can't I just sit still?

Yes. Yes, I can.

Can you just sit still?

Yes. Yes, you can.

We can sit still in the love and the goodness of God.