Becoming like Christ, becoming relaxed, is the by-product of relationship with Him. Becoming more relaxed will happen, not as we try harder to be more relaxed, but as we open our honest hearts to the one who is not worried about a thing.

Our behavior comes from the depth of our hearts. The first step of spiritual growth is opening our hearts to God instead of hiding them. If we skip the step of opening our hearts to God, we will try to change by trying to change. We aren't doing the work. We ARE the work.

We aren't relaxed because we're trying to figure it all out. That really means "I'm just trying to control my life." If you rely on yourself and you succeed, it becomes pride. If you fail, it becomes shame. Both arrogance and shame are manifestations of pride. Rather, your first move should be to...

Anxiety, grief, and mistakes can cripple us and force us to try to lean on our own understanding. But we really want something better than understanding. We want to be able to relax. God's peace is better than understanding, and we gain his peace by trusting him.

Relationships are risky. But taking risks is a great way to kick out autonomy, which is something we could stand to lose. Risk is important because it opens us to God's power and love - we don't look for his presence when we're comfortable.

Our aim is to trust in the Lord with all our hearts, and money and trials reveal our hearts. Our aim with money is to move from "ownership" to "stewardship." The purpose of trials is to mature us and teach us joy.

God will make our paths straight, but he won't make everything easy. God does not give us exact answers, but he will make us Christ-like choosers. When we trust him with all our hearts, we join in on what he's already doing.