Vanity

This also is vanity.

 - From Ecclesiastes 2

King Solomon writes "Even at night their minds do not rest."

Just last week, I had a sleepless night. I had been dealing with a multi-day spell of a sort of anxiety. There were nervous feelings that I could not tame. My heart wasn't racing, not exactly. I did not check my blood pressure . . . for that always makes me feel worse!

I've dealt with occasional bouts of anxiety at times in my life. I do not think I'm alone in this. When you are troubled, and can't sleep - that's anxiety. When you feel intensely angry, or have entered into a mood where you honestly don't care anything about anything - - - this is anxiety.

And it may be traces of clinical depression. I don't know. 

I do know that our mind is master over our physical well-being. When your heart is broken, it is more than a state of mind, or a trite commentary. A good old-fashioned heartbreak causes your chest to ache. You might get a headache. Your breathing might go shallow. You can't do anything about the horrible thoughts going through your mind. You may reach a state of near-panic. 

It affects you physically. 

I also know that I am more prone to this problem, when I have not been praying, or studying God's word.

If you're more focused on DOING, than BEING, you are more prone to anxiety.

The worldly, physical person says "I have to be at work at 8:00am." You are a slave - - - you do things because you HAVE to, not because you want to. You do not serve anybody. You're serving yourself. Everything's a chore. Everything is toil. It makes you very nervous. 

If you say "I will arrive at work at 8:00am," then you are acting out of service. You CHOOSE to be there. 

All this work. All these schedules. All these emails. All these deadlines. Solomon said it's all "vanity." It's all, in reality, pointless, because in the end you'll have nothing to show for it, and it does not add anything to your eventual eternal existence. 

So, focus on being a child of God . . . rather than on keeping busy all the time.