Curing Christmas worries with prayer

Worry is like a rocking chair. It will give you something to do, but it won’t get you anywhere.

-- THE UNITED CHURCH OBSERVER

“Hi, Cindy, it’s great to see you,” a friend said to me recently. “I know what you should write about this week. I have just the right thing for you.”

I told her I was very interested to hear her idea. I was surprised when her answer was simply, “worry.”

“Worry?” I asked. “Please tell me more, and tell my why I should write about worry now, three weeks before Christmas.”

She told me: “Three weeks before Christmas is the perfect time to write about worry because we’re all struggling with it. We worry about all we have to do in the coming weeks, we worry if we’ll buy the right gifts and wrap them in time, we worry if we’ll be able to pay for them later, we worry about Christmas cards, Christmas colds, what to cook, how to decorate, what to wear, where to go. We get all caught up in the hustle and bustle and we come down with a major case of ‘worryitis,’ and it very contagious, you know.

“Besides, you wrote about worry once, and said something I really liked, and it helped me at the time; I just don’t remember it anymore, sorry to say.”

I looked at my friend, smiled and said, “I’ve never heard of ‘worryitis,’” but I’ve certainly experienced it, and you’re right, this time of year we are all prone to it. I’ll see what I can do.”

My friend was right. If we are consumed with worry, we might sing about “peace on earth and goodwill toward men,” but we might not experience it. I also knew what my friend referred to in a past column about worry, because many people commented on it. It was a saying I’d heard that said, “If you worry, pray, and if you pray, why worry?” Those few simple words actually carry a profound message that offers us a remedy to ‘worryitis,’ and that is prayer.

When I pray, and truly ask God to help me and guide me with whatever worries me, he answers me. Sometimes I sense a clear answer such as a decision or a direction, but even when I do not sense a clear answer, I do sense his peace. Sometimes because of that peace, my mind and emotions are calmed enough that the answer becomes clear.

We probably are all making lists for the upcoming weeks, lists of activities, errands and gifts to buy. Perhaps if we paused each time we looked at or added to the list, and prayed about what we wrote, we would sense God’s peace gently replacing our worry. Worry is like a rocking chair, and while rocking chairs are wonderful when it comes to calming children, they don’t work when it is time for us to be productive. So, instead of rocking back and forth in worry, why not make progress in prayer?

And you can quote me on that.

* CINDY TRANE CHRISTESON is a Newport Beach resident who speaks frequently to parenting groups. She may be reached via e-mail at cindy@onthegrow.com or through the mail at 537 Newport Center Drive, Box 505, Newport Beach, CA 92660.

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