Relax Take It Easy!

A good friend (Mr D) recently asked me if he was allowed to say “Relax!” to me. It was in response to the way I felt about an incident which occurred recently on an intercity bus, and the way I handled the flirtations from a fellow passenger who sat next to me.

Mr C, a mutual friend of Mr D and I, recently also wrote some words of admonishment to me, when he learnt that I was feeling heavily weighed down by the burdens I was feeling for various friends who were (and are) on a similar journey of faith that we're on. He wrote, “God gives each of us our burdens to bear, do not get enmeshed in the challenges God gives to others. He will also apportion the grace necessary to overcome it. All you are asked to do is pray and be obedient to the Spirit’s prompting and/conviction to respond (if any). Your heart is your fortune/treasure, do not be reckless with it!”

Perhaps God had something to teach me through Mr C and Mr D. I love train rides. When I was younger and had time up my sleeves, I used to sometimes hop onto a train in Melbourne and let it take me right to the end of the train line just so I could see other parts of Melbourne that I normally wouldn’t get to see.

Lately, I’ve been wondering where the train I’m on is heading, and which train line I'm actually on. I had friends who were on the train with me, who boarded it willingly because they believed in travelling to the same destination as I was heading towards. But as I watched these same friends slowly get off at various stations one by one as they began to find it too claustrophobic or the travel class too uncomfortable and restrictive, I sat in my seat and with each disembarkation, felt my heart sink a little bit further. The journey started with much hope and vigour and excitement for the future. Who would have thought it would be this long and difficult?

And so lately, I have found myself looking out the carriage window and started wondering if perhaps the grass is greener outside as it appears. I do not think it is. Or at least much of it is not. Still it is cold comfort to the fact that many friends are no longer on the train journey with me. It is in the midst of all this, that through Mr C and D that I catch a glimpse of a different perspective. That God knows where my friends are. And he knows which station they’re at, and which alternate route they’ve taken. And that I need only to concentrate on my own train journey with God. God does not stop me from thinking about or missing my friends. And he appreciates my thinking of them, but he also wants me to “relax”, to also trust Him and not take on any unnecessary baggage that other people may have left behind on the train.

Relax. Truth be told, letting go of our futures and our plans and letting God take control is easier said than done sometimes. And I can be scared shitless some days. Still it is a comforting thought knowing God is also on the train with me. I love this song.

'Relax, Take It Easy' by Mika

Took a ride to the end of the line
Where no one ever goes
Ended up on a broken train with nobody I know
But the pain and the longing's the same
When you're dying
Now I’m lost and I’m screaming for help

Chorus
Relax, take it easy
For there is nothing that we can do
Relax, take it easy
Blame it on me or blame it on you

It’s as if I’m scared
It’s as if I’m terrified
It’s as if I scared
It’s as if I’m playing with fire
Scared
It’s as if I’m terrified
Are you scared?
Are we playing with fire?

Relax
There is an answer to the darkest times
It’s clear we don’t understand
But the last thing on my mind is to leave you
I believe that we’re in this together
Don’t scream – there are so many roads left