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This is my craziest time of year. Many of you can relate, as you have your own different times throughout the 12 months that you are just so busy, you don’t know if you’re coming or going. The second half of August and beginning of September…that’s my time to feel the extreme stress and anxiety that brings those thoughts of, “can I really do all this?” to mind.
As September starts, my softball team has eight games in the first seven days, school is still getting underway, my own school (journalism masters) is going on, my son starts college and tennis, my wife is stressed at her job, and it just feels at times that I’m on a perpetual downhill roller coaster, holding on for dear life.
At these times it seems as though I spend less time talking to God. Outside of the prayers of, “God, give me your strength ‘cause I’m not sure I can do this!” my prayer life consists of falling asleep as my exhausted body lies in bed and tries to remember who I should be praying for.
I am so lucky that God does not abandon me at these times. He never complains that He’s too busy; in fact, He often brings Himself into my view even when I’m not focused on Him at all.
I am a huge Billy Joel fan! Many of his songs reach in and grab hold of me in various types of ways. “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” is the first song that I learned all the words to as a kid. I used to listen to my brother’s copy of Joel’s album, The Stranger, over and over ‘til I had the lyrics from “Scenes” down. That song is 7:37 long, so this was no easy task, but it really has been a gigantic part of my life during different seasons of my 53 years. If you don’t know it, you should. Take a listen to it here.
However, it isn’t that song that God used to touch my soul recently. “Vienna” is another song from that same Joel album. Like “Scenes,” it is one of my favorite songs of all time. Joel reportedly wrote the song for many reasons, some of which involved his father and his estrangement from him, a trip to Vienna where he reconnected with his dad, and an old woman he saw sweeping the sidewalk while he was walking in Vienna. As songwriters do, the song involves what was happening within himself during that time of his life. It has so many layers that a crazy lit teacher like myself can’t help but fall in love with it.
Any playlist I’ve created on Spotify that deals with some kind of relaxing or chilling out has this song on it. The opening line says, “Slow down you crazy child.” I mean, that’s what we all need to do to relax, right? Slow down. Easier said than done! For myself, I often turn on music to try to force myself to relax.
Recently, I was in one of those “forced relax times” and God just spoke to me through this secular song I’ve known for as long as I can remember. It was like He was hitting me over the head and reminding me that He is still there, He is still God, and there is so much more for me than this crazy rat race we all call life.
For those of you that don’t know this song, I’ll break down the lyrics and how God used them with me. Slow down you crazy child, you’re so ambitious for a juvenile. This first line hit me hard. This was God telling me to take a chill pill. I was still just a juvenile when it came to knowing my Heavenly Father and the most important thing I can do is build my relationship with Him, and the only way to do this is making time for Jesus through prayer and reading His word. Joel himself said that for him this song represented slowing down and having gratitude for the good things in your life. I think those good things come from the Lord above and we need to slow down and thank Him and get to know Him better.
But then if you’re so smart, tell me why are you still so afraid? This line again resonated with me so much. How many times have I tried to handle things all on my own? I’m the smart one; I’ve got this. But that leads to stress, anxiety, FEAR. A popular Christian song says that “fear doesn’t stand a chance when I stand in Your love.” But to really be standing in His love, we have to slow down and let Him in.
Where’s the fire, what’s the hurry about? You better cool it off before you burn it out. It was like God was saying right to me, “Cool your jets! If you don’t remember that I’m the priority, you’re gonna flame out.”
You’ve got so much to do and only so many hours in a day. I only look at all of these earthly things I have to accomplish, and to do them, I put God on the back burner. I don’t have time for Him. In reality, He is actually what I need to make time for more than anything else. There’s only so many hours in the day, but Jesus has to be part of that day. If I go it alone and push Him to just one hour on Sunday, well, that’s when the overwhelmed feelings creep in and take hold.
I am going to handle the chorus as a whole, because it all goes together. But you know that when the truth is told that you can get what you want or you can just get old. You’re gonna kick off before you even get halfway through. When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?
Wow, ultimately what we all want is freedom. Freedom from stress and anxiety. Freedom from everything the world says we have to have, do, or be. That freedom from our worries that we all crave only comes through Jesus. It is the truth so many of us know, but we are often just going through our stress-filled lives getting older by the minute. If only we could just slow down and realize that heaven waits for us.
As I listened to one of my favorite songs of all time, singing along in my truck, I realized that my Vienna is heaven. God sent me a message through this fantastic song, a message which isn’t intended, but a message oh so clear.
When things get crazy, don’t push Me away; pull me closer. I’ll help you figure it out here in this broken world. Remember, I’ve conquered this world and because of that, heaven waits for you.
I realize that this is something that is often easier said than done. Our human nature makes us go into self-sufficient mode and try to figure everything out on our own. My challenge to you is when those feelings of stress and being overwhelmed crash into the shores of your life, take a step back, remind yourself of who is really in control, and go to Him.
Lean on Jesus; draw Him closer rather than pushing Him away because you don’t have time. Maybe listen to “Vienna” and remember how to slow down for God. Hopefully this will help during your most stressful times of the year. Until next month…
