Cast Your Anxieties

by Kaji Douša | published on Feb 17, 2026

All your anxiety, cast on God, because God cares for you all. Be sober, keep alert. – 1 Peter 5:7 (as translated by Wilda C. Gafney for Year B) 

Once upon a time, I developed an abiding fear. A fear about losing what I had. And a fear for the next time I would lose even more.  

All of a sudden, mine was not a story of strength or winning. Falling short of humbling myself, life humbled me. And I didn’t want any part of that ever happening again. The anticipation of this fall could stop my heart for a spell. Take my breath away.  

The text says, “Cast” your anxiety on God. What does that mean? How, even?  

The word “cast” I know is from fishing. Heading out to the pier with one of my grandfathers, where one of the fishermen would cast a line on the waters of the deep.  

Casting anxiety on God means throwing it away. Into a place you cannot see. Hoping something will catch.  

I went fishing this summer. Out on the Atlantic. Not from a pier, but a little boat. My role wasn’t to reel in the fish. But I could look for the signs of life. My fishing part was to see where others saw life. So if a bunch of gulls hovered around a spot, then we drove over to that very place because there was energy there. Life there.  

I learned something fishing. To cast your line where there’s life means you have to see it. “Keep alert,” the text says. And I cannot emphasize this enough. When we are in a rut, or get used to our own surroundings, or just feel like…ugh. That’s exactly when we have to get diligent.  

Look for the signs of life. The gulls hovering on the water, showing you another place to put your focus, taking you away from a lifeless course. Cast your line there. Because God has something in store for you.  

Prayer
Casting anxiety on God means throwing it away. Into a place you cannot see. Hoping something will catch. To cast your line where there’s life means you have to watch for it, notice it. 

Kaji DoušaAbout the Author
Kaji Douša is the Senior Pastor of The Park Avenue Christian Church, a congregation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ, in New York City.