We all know the freedom with which a child draws something. Before knowing others judgement young children have no belief that what they create is somehow not okay.

Follow the formation of that same child into their school years and we see them change in their confident spontaneity. They start believing that they can’t draw. In an atmosphere of unrealistic expectations they feel unsafe to freely create and experience heightened anxiety when asked to perform.

Few of us has not been compromised in our emotional formation and expression. We do all need a certain normal level of anxiety in order to do something but where we have been wounded our anxiety can be debilitating. At these heightened levels it’ll compromise our ability to cope with life, both in our relationships and in the things we’d want to do.

As we see where our own anxiety spikes – which may be very different from that of our siblings – we will know that we have a wound there. Jesus invites us to open that painful place to Him for His love to heal us. He helps us take steps to cultivate a trusting beginner’s mind where anxiety has its rightful place in our lives.