Relaxed? When you sit down and think about it, are your nerves heightened and your worries rising, or are you able to let go and breathe easily?

I am never calm. MS means my reactions are always too quick, so if our dog barks and I’m holding a cup of tea, it will invariably end up all over me. My hands shake most of the time and I catastrophise constantly. The two times I have gone for a massage the masseuse has said they have never come across shoulders so tense!

So when I read yesterday that one word that described Jesus best was ‘relaxed’, I frowned. Surely, knowing what was ahead of Him meant that He was stressed? Then I remembered He told other people not to worry, He made last minute decisions to go places for tea and He slept through a storm in a boat. It dawned on me then that I let my own stresses colour the way I see everyone else.

My cousin mixed up a foot soak for me the other day that was intended to relax me. She recognised the need and tried to help. Maybe one day soon I’ll be able to close my eyes and let the calming aroma do its work.

What about you? If you are like me and no amount of calming techniques work, then think about what does. Where were you when you felt relaxed? What were you doing? Can you re-create it now? I am realising that even if we are far from the sea or bereft of candles, it is still possible to relax. Exercise or music can help. Talking it out with a friend works too. If you pray then pray but maybe leave long pauses and remember most things are not there for you to organise and control. Jesus may have been relaxed but at the end He was ‘overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death’* so don’t think He doesn’t understand when that is how you feel.

So I’m not going to tell you to relax, because I rarely can. I’ll just say seek out the ways that get you as close to it as you can and remember that even the Saviour of the world had to escape to find space sometimes.

*Matthew 26v38