Hubby and I carried our lawn chairs out to the yard next to the apple trees. I took my flip flops off so I could put my bare feet in the soft mossy grass. Thankfully I accidentally missed the deer poop which I hadn’t even noticed just a few inches away. (Ha!) I joked with hubby that we were “Earthing” and “Forest bathing.” About that time hubby glanced up and noticed a huge wasp nest high up in one of the hemlock trees! That thing is ginormous!
For sure hubby and I don’t want that ginormous wasp nest down here in this peaceful place where we are calmly “Earthing” and “Forest bathing.” No way! No longer would it be a peaceful place! If that ginormous wasp nest were right here next to where we are, there would be stings … and fear of stings!
I’ve been thinking how our mind can become like that ginormous wasp nest! This is what happens when we allow our mind to go to anxious places!
This right here is what an anxious mind is like!
An anxious mind doesn’t start out as a ginormous wasp nest – pouring out swarms of painful “stinging” words on everyone around, at the slightest little disturbance or bump! It starts out as a tiny little thought. Just one little “wasp” (so to speak) in the mind. A tiny little anxious thought which we dwell upon.
The tiny little anxious thought swirls around in our mind as we ponder and dwell on it.
And before we know it … another anxious thought has joined it! Another little “wasp” (so to speak).
The two little anxious thoughts begin to build something in our mind. They begin to build a neural network (biologically in our brain). Or we could say they start to build a tiny little “wasp nest” in our mind.
The more we dwell on the anxious thought, the more anxious thoughts come to join it. Other anxious thoughts! About all kinds of other things! The “wasp nest” in our mind is growing! Biologically the neural network in our brain is growing!
This is why God commands us: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” – Philippians 4:6
God is literally telling us: Get rid of those anxious thoughts! Get them out of your mind!
Get that ever-growing wasp nest out from underneath your patio chair! … Knock that wasp nest out from up under the eave of the workshop! … Knock that wasp nest out from the beam of the car barn! … Knock that wasp nest down! Knock it down now! Knock it down while it is still small!
How do we get rid of anxious thoughts??
How do we “knock that wasp nest” out of our mind??
By prayer. Literally imagine, in your mind, yourself handing your “wasp nest” of anxious thoughts to God. Hand those anxious thoughts to God. All of them. Don’t hang on to your anxious thoughts. Give them to God. Every . single . one . of . them.
Then a few minutes later, when an anxious thought surfaces in your mind and starts swirling around … pause! Stop … and hand that anxious thought to God. Get rid of it!
Then a few minutes later, when another anxious thought surfaces in your mind and starts swirling around … stop … and hand that anxious thought to God. Get rid of it!
The thing is, you can’t hand your anxious thoughts to God and get rid of them if all you do is gripe and complain to God. If, when you go to God in prayer, all you ever do is just gripe and complain about everything you are worried and anxious about … that’s not letting go of it. That’s not handing it off. That is not “knocking down the wasp nest.” That is just standing back admiring your “wasp nest” to God.
If all you do is gripe to God in prayer, you are just standing back letting God know how big your “wasp nest” is growing.
This is why in Philippians 4:6 God specifically instructs us to come to him with thanksgiving. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” – Philippians 4:6
Gratitude is the “wasp & hornet spray” (so to speak) which “douses” the “wasp nest” with praise!
The “wasp nest” of anxiety can’t survive in our mind if it is absolutely doused with praise and thankfulness!
Douse those anxious thoughts with praise and gratitude!
What will be the result of dousing anxious thoughts with praise and gratitude?
“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your heart and your mind.” – Philippians 4:7
If you allow your mind to “marinate” in all the wrong kinds of thoughts, eventually you will be filled with all kinds of fear! Your mind will be just like a “wasp nest” … full of fear and anxiety! “Stinging words” will swarm out of you, disrupting and destroying the peaceful environment all around you!
Nobody will want to be around you because of the ginormous “wasp nest” of anxiety that is your mind!
In 1 Peter 5:6-7 God instructs us: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.”
It takes humility to surrender and give our anxieties to God.
Pride is ultimately what causes ginormous “wasp nests” to grow in our mind. Pride which somehow assumes God isn’t big enough or powerful enough to handle those things which are making us anxious.
“Humble yourself under God’s mighty hand.” Humility lets go of worrying. Humility surrenders our anxieties and fear to God. Humility lets go of the “wasp nest.”
Humility … and gratitude, in prayer, are how we get rid of “wasp nests” in our mind.
