Caring Heart: Surrounded by Anxiety

A bit ago I shared a book recommendation about worries.  Here is a meditation for parents whose children live with constant anxiety. This one was written thinking of foster and adoptive children, but I know that it is not just children who have been traumatized who live with anxiety. 

A life surround by anxiety.

Oh God, she is afraid of everything.  When was the last week that went by that we didn't bump into some new or undiscovered fear of hers?  I can't even keep them straight.  Afraid of the dark. Afraid of too bright a light.  Afraid of unexpected noises.  Afraid of silence. How hard it must be to be so afraid of all the world around you.  To worry that something, anything about that world will hurt you.  What happened to her to make her so anxious?  Most children get tossed in the air and giggle with delight, never fearing for safety, totally secure.  They are so blessed.  Most children delight in the "boo" moment of peek a boo.  Do their parents even realize what a gift that is to have given their children?  That total sense of security where hide and seek is a game, not a protection strategy? What happened to this child that she feels she is the only one she can count on to keep herself safe.  Be with her, Lord.  Teach her that she can count on you.  Then perhaps slowly open her eyes to see that she now has people who will keep her safe.  Help her to let go and dare to trust.  Step by step to turn her anxieties and fears over to someone else.  Help her.  

Excerpted from "The Caring Heart Speaks: Meditations for foster, kinship, and adoptive parents" by Gail Underwood Parker    Artwork by Anna Parker David from the book cover.