January 5: Insight Post by Kim Feld
Monday Insight Post
by Kim Feld
Welcome to our 2026 Bible Reading Plan! I am praying that we experience deep, lasting growth through this plan. We will be focusing on a different spiritual practice or discipline each month this year, beginning with meditation.
The irony of writing about this today is not lost on me, after a night tossing and turning, dwelling on what’s weighing on my heart and mind. In essence, I was meditating – I was looking at, in this case, troubling issues from all angles and “processing” them over and over. Unfortunately, all this kind of meditating got me was a weary body and a raging headache from too little sleep.
I know the word “discipline” can have a negative connotation, but my night last night is a perfect example of why meditating in a way that benefits me requires consistent, hard work. Left to my own devices, I will instead lean into worry. God knows this and invites me to come to Him instead of trying to work it out on my own.
Meditation, in the Biblical sense, is not just thinking positive thoughts. It connects my heart and mind to the truth of God’s word. It draws me deeper into God’s presence and reveals His heart and character to me. I got zero peace from my worrying last night because my focus was on how I was going to handle the situations I was wrestling with. My night would have been different had I focused on the realization that God is with me and has promised never to leave me. He is bigger than anything I will ever face.
Worry produces anxiety in us, which is always focused on the future. Anxiety comes from the seemingly endless what-ifs. Meditation counteracts that by bringing me back to the present. Let’s take a look at our anchor verse for this week:
Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28 (NLT)
Jesus’ words are present tense, not past or future, but present. His offer is rest for today if we just come. We don’t have to carry our burdens alone.
I am a doer and fixer; my natural bent is to figure it out on my own. But just as our physical muscles are built through exercise, the same is true for spiritual ones. Meditation is spiritual weightlifting. Worrying is a habit, but meditation can become a habit too. I’m committed to making a different choice tonight when my thoughts lead me to worry.
Do you have heavy burdens today that you are trying to carry on your own? Jesus invites you and me to bring them to Him.
Kim Feld
Executive Director of Education and Outreach
New Hope Church
Lorton, Virginia
www.newhope.org