"...and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you." 1 Peter 5:5b-7 Also at the retreat we looked at this verse in relation to forgiveness. It was pointed out that trouble forgiving can often, if not always, be related to pride. Here anxiety seems to be related to pride. It's talking about humble yourself, bask in God's grace, and cast your anxiety in the matter on Him. I always took the "cast your cares" verse out of context, apparently, as my everyday worries. But maybe pride issues and everyday worries are not so different after all. Why do moms worry about their kids? Why do dads worry about making ends meet? Could it be we're taking more than our fair share of the load? We are certainly responsible to train up our children, take care of them and to pay our bills. But as long as we perform our duties, we can certainly entrust our lives to the Lord. It's a challenge for me to check my heart. Have I entrusted my whole life to the Lord? Especially the details that only He can know and affect? Am I trying to take responsibility for that part I have no ability for? Is that why I am anxious? I think so. Why do I do that? Why would I try to do God's work? I submit it's pride because I'm not submitting in areas I should. God is wise and wonderful, but this means so much to me...Not consciously do I try to usurp God's authority or overrule His wisdom, but subconsciously I am. When we find ourselves becoming anxious, I think we need to check our hearts and spirits. I believe we're not trusting the hand of God, who so beautifully sustains us. He won't let us fall from His hand and care, but in our pride we tend to slip out of Jesus' yoke and try to carry more than our share of the load. No wonder we're anxious! No wonder we need God's grace! How comforting to know it's always there as we humble ourselves once again.