Previously, we’ve seen the apostle Paul’s pastoral counsel to the Philippians. Rejoice, Paul says, for the Lord is near. If you’re anxious, pray, and God’s peace will guard your hearts and minds. Realistically, the Philippians probably had good reason to worry. Living in the United States, we may take it for granted that we have freedom of worship. But what if our neighbors started pressuring us to stop claiming to follow Jesus as Lord? That was probably the situation in Philippi. Yet Paul still says, Rejoice, don’t be anxious, pray.

Can we do this in our own situations?

I confess: as I write this, I’m anxious, and it’s not over anything as serious as persecution. I’ve contracted to teach a one-week course in Canada, but my passport needs to be renewed. I submitted my renewal application by mail in plenty of time, but found out by accident that processing times for passport applications recently jumped by a month — meaning that I may not have my passport in time to travel. And people have already registered for the course.

I confess: my somewhat paranoid brain is angry at what I perceive to be government bureaucracy. When I sent in the application, I paid to have it go by Express Mail, a two-day delivery. But the only information I’ve been able to retrieve online says that they “received” the application nine days after I mailed it. Did the post office lose it? Did it get delivered on time, but then sat on someone’s desk for a week before it got logged in? Adding to my suspiciousness: it just so happens that the longer processing time became official after the date they should have received it by Express Mail, and before the date they say they received it. Hmm.

I confess: I am frustrated at not being able to do anything. There’s supposed to be a provision for someone to “upgrade” to expedited processing, but the phone number to call only gives you a computerized voice that tells you nothing can be done — at least until your scheduled flight is only 2 weeks away. Then, apparently, we can all run around like headless chickens trying to make something happen.

Umm…is my frustration showing?

I get it. Really, I do. In a more-or-less post-COVID world, there’s been a tremendous increase in travel, and thus in passport applications. That’s a happy thing. Wait times have naturally gone up, and the State Department is hiring more people to process the load. So I know that this isn’t a conspiracy to keep me out of Canada (as if I were that important). My timing just stinks. Period. It happens.

Will it all “work out”? I don’t know. What I do know is that even if things don’t go as planned, no one will die over this. And no amount of worrying on my part can change anything. I will do what I can, responsibly. And then I just have to wait.

The question is, am I waiting on God, or on the State Department?

No offense, but my confidence is in the former.

I think there’s a reason why the next thing Paul says in Philippians is this:

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Phil 4:8, NIV)

I know myself. I’ll let the matter go for now. After all, I’ve done my homework and taken what steps I can. But as the date of my planned departure draws nearer and the passport still hasn’t arrived, I’ll worry about it more. I’ll probably lose a few hours of sleep here and there over it, all because I’ll wake up, start thinking about the situation, and get caught in an anxious loop that’s difficult to stop. And being sleep-deprived won’t help me be any calmer.

I can try to make myself stop thinking about it, to stop worrying. I can try to will myself back to sleep. And if you’ve ever tried doing that yourself, you know how well that’s going to go.

Or I can commit myself to continue taking the matter — again, a tiny one in the cosmic scheme of things! — to God in prayer. I can purpose to think about other things, to meditate on what’s right instead of obsessing over what’s wrong. I can lean into gratitude and let go of the need to fix things.

I can “think about such things.”

And hopefully, some moments of peace will follow.