I had a beer with a friend over the weekend and he made an insightful observation. He said that often times we can look at future life events/milestones that are years away with apprehension and anxiety. While the example he provided isn’t mine to tell, I do have a few random ones that I can share…
– When I was in elementary school, I was nervous about middle school gym class because of the shower requirement. How was I going to finish gym, take a shower in strange facilities, and then make it to my next class in time? Well, those couple of sleepless nights were for naught because there was no shower requirement and no one used them anyway.
– I had a hard time visualizing myself driving in my later pre-teen years. Someone is going to trust me behind the wheel of 3,000 pounds of steel? In 8th grade, my math teacher had us write letters to our high school senior-selves. She kept those letters and four years later mailed them to us the week of our graduation. In my letter I specifically asked my older self whether I had managed to get my driver’s license and what car I drove.
– In college I constantly fretted over whether I would get a job upon graduation and what it would be. Every night I prayed to God asking for his guidance on what I should do career-wise for the rest of my life.
Despite my concerns, everything in the three examples worked out just fine. Do I have new worries for future life events that don’t deal with middle school showers and getting behind the wheel? Sure. But even though they are always in the back of my mind, I don’t necessarily allow them to gnaw at me. Things have a way of working themselves out and we just need to trust in God’s plan. Don’t Blink.