I love the ocean, one of the things I love about it is the fact that it can go from complete calm to absolute chaos with waves crashing over the top of each other in an instant. Boats, when they encounter the chaos, have an amazing tool called an anchor that can root the boat into the seabed and keep it from being swept up in the waves.
Life can feel a lot like this as well; sometimes every aspect of our lives, work, relationships, friends, and family can be so routine and calming that it almost gets a little mundane. Then suddenly one thing turns up out of the blue and it can turn our life into complete chaos. When this happens it’s good to reflect on where you have put your anchor. Is the foundation you have placed it in strong enough to keep you from being swept away?
Anchor
Our anchor is where we have grounded ourselves in life. Who or what do we allow in our lives that can affect our moods and emotions? Is it a friend, a family member, finance, good times, drugs, or alcohol, even food? Whatever it is—that is where your anchor is rooted.
Anchors, like friends, career and a loved one, are not strong enough to keep you from being caught up in the chaos of life.
In Matthew chapter 7 verse 24 - 27 it says “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
This shows how important it is to build and anchor your life on a solid rock foundation and the strongest foundation you can anchor yourself in is God and His Word.
Before the chaos
Recently I realised that I got so comfortable with my life being calm and in a routine that I never thought about where I was placing my anchor. Growing up I didn’t have a lot of friendships and I never fully realised that when that area of my life started to flourish how deeply rooted I was in the value of a good friend. As friendships developed in my life, I started getting anxious about the incoming chaos to start and wash it all away from me. This caused me to be paranoid about the friends I have and not being valuable enough for them to stay in my life. I began to act in a way that made me become dependent on them for my happiness, my moods and my world being right.
The end result of this would have eventually caused the friendship to die and my fears could have become my reality. It wasn’t until a good family friend came in and pointed out that I was anchoring my life in this friendship and not in God that I realised that I was heading down this road of destruction. What was supposed to be a beautiful friendship was turning into a crazy crashing sea of emotions and I knew I needed to anchor myself in the Word of God and not in the value of this friendship.
Building a foundation
Readjusting your anchor to be with God isn’t as easy as just thinking, ‘okay well I’m building my foundation here now’; it’s about purposely seeking out a relationship with God so that it’s strong. I had to stop making excuses of being too busy and having too much on and set aside my time so that I had enough to just simply be with Him. Without connection with God, I cannot operate in a kind, loving and forgiving nature during chaos moments. When chaos hits, I’m too busy trying not to be swept away in it all and then I start getting a bitter and negative mindset of “life is too hard and why has God left me,” when really He is just waiting for us to stop focusing on certain areas of our lives and trust Him with everything so we can start living life to the full.
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John chapter 10 verse 10)
Aside from God being a strong foundation, He is also the only thing in our lives that the enemy can’t steal. When we are rooted in the other areas of our lives, we give the enemy a wide opening to come in to cause mayhem and destruction, which can also pull everything else in our lives down with it. When you are standing firm in the foundation that is your relationship with God—when chaos hits in another area of our lives it doesn’t affect us as much because we have full faith and confidence that God will see us through to the other side of the chaos.
"The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe." (Proverbs chapter 18 verse 10)