I tend to be anxious about many things. I think that for most people, including many Christ-followers, this is true to at least some degree. In my case, unfortunately, this anxiety has manifested itself to such a level that it has had a pretty profound negative impact on my quality of life in past years. Through those years I’ve addressed what is known these days as “Anxiety Disorder” on a number of levels. Spiritually I’ve consciously sought to find my confidence, and the peace and rest that comes from that confidence, in the One Who died for me. This manifests itself, to the degree it has, from an intentional devotional life. On the psychological level I’ve been in truly Christian counseling for many years. As for the physiological component anti-anxiety medication has proven to be very helpful as well.

There is also one more thing I’ve done, specifically over the past few years, which I did not do to reduce anxiety intentionally, but which has had the effect of reducing it nonetheless. I did not link this recent action and its effect until after Pastor Chris said something this past Sunday during his second “Fighting for Rest” message. He stated that “the more value we put on things the more we are anxious.”

Several years ago it became apparent that my wife and I would have to move out of the home I owned in West Milford, NJ and into my mother-in-law’s house in Freehold, where Kat grew up. There were reasons for that not germane to this essay, but the bottom line was that everything material two adults who married later in life had amassed, plus all my mother-in-law’s worldly goods, were going to have to fit in one place. In effect, three households were going to have to be merged into one physically. This could not be accomplished without getting rid of a lot of “stuff.”

So I began the process of throwing out, giving away, or selling what ended up being probably about 25-30% of everything I owned. Initially this was painful and very difficult but, as the months went by (thank goodness we had that kind of time to plan the move), it began to actually feel good. There was a sense of disconnecting from a lot of things I really didn’t need, maybe that I didn’t even really want anymore. It was freeing. Having all those things in my possession had at least to some degree, on some level been subtly contributing to my anxiety problem. The more things you have, the more things there are to maintain, protect, store, and otherwise worry about. Now quite a bit of that stuff, admittedly out of necessity, was gone and I actually was glad to have it gone!

Recently, this time for financial reasons, the “winnowing” of my material possessions ended up including an old classic car that I had owned for many years. While its departure was somewhat “bittersweet” I think I can honestly say now that even letting go of that once precious vehicle was a bit more sweet than bitter.

Now, I should state for the record (because if I don’t, my wife will!) that I am a collector of other things, and not much of what I specifically collect has been deleted from my life. I am not a utilitarian and I do believe that God sometimes blesses us with things we enjoy far beyond what we need to simply survive.

That said; I hope the general trajectory of my life is towards greater simplicity and less “stuff”. There are a few reasons why I’d like to see living with less become my new default setting, but one of them is definitely that “the more value we put on things the more we are anxious.” I don’t want to live an anxious life anymore, and I’m increasingly coming to realize that putting less emphasis on the material is yet another route to get to the life of true rest that our loving God intends for us.