Managing Stress

How do you manage the pressure or stress in your life? We all have stress. Stress is like conflict. It is inevitable. Your ability to manage stress well will very likely mean the difference between success and failure, happiness and despondency, satisfaction and disappointment. Here are some management strategies that you might find helpful.

Be willing to fail. Even if you are driven not to fail, there is a benefit in being willing to risk. I really hate to fail. However, I understand that if there is no risk, there is no reward. Some people are crushed by their failures. The truth is that we will all fail. The measure of your character is how you respond to adversity, to failure.. God will forgive you, and so will others if you will face your failures with integrity and learn from your mistakes.

Keep it Simple. You have control over your stress levels. Most of our stress is self-imposed (self-inflicted) or at least self exacerbated. Living a simple life is a joy. No one requires us to live the life of the soaps. Keep your desires in check. Love your family and do your work. If you have ever been tangled up in sinful behavior, and I am thinking maybe you have, you know that the simple life is a lot less stressful!

Listen to the truth. Lean on your family and friends. There will be critics, always. Some will have bad motives, wanting to discourage or demote you. Most of the time, your critics are feeling a loss by what you say or do. If you can understand what might be at stake for them, you can listen with less anxiety. Others are people that want to promote, instead of demote. You need their truth telling! Find those people and lean on them. Speak frankly to them and let them speak frankly to you. There needs to be a place for unmasked honesty.

Historical Perspective. It is important to have a good sense of where you stand in the big picture. Sometimes I just have to look into the sky on a starry night. I am small. History is large. And God is above it all. In the larger scheme, my success or failure on a particular task will not change the course of everything. But in a few cases, the impact of what we do, does count. Don't forget that either. Your words and deeds matter.

Stay on task. Pressure is best dealt with head on. There are so many distractions and time consumers that come our way throughout the day. You can fill your whole day with those things. God gives us each day as a gift to use. When the day is over, we will never reclaim the time. Spend it as if it were precious currency. It is.

Pray and Sing. In the Bible, Peter writes, Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you (I Peter 5:7). You will have to reserve time for this. Take time to talk with God. Let him bear your burdens. Most of all, let him be your significance. That will take most of the pressure right off your shoulders. You are important because he made you that way. And sing. God said that in singing we would be filled with His Spirit (Ephesians 5:18-20). The whole cosmos should sing, and perhaps it does (Rev 5:13)!

Remember His Presence. Consider the ravens. Consider the lilies. Consider the angels. Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation? (Hebrews 1:14).

Trudge. When the tediousness comes and the pressure mounts, put your head down and press on. If it is number crunching, cutting the grass, or dealing with unpleasant business or unpleasant people, apply yourself and have the discipline to do what is right. Finish the race. We always feel a sense of relief in the aftermath of responsibility fulfilled.

Take care of your body. Eat right. Get some exercise. Go to bed at a reasonable hour. Your body is a tool that God has given you. Take care of the tool, so that you can accomplish all that God has set before you to do.

Use and enjoy. Pressure is also the gift of God. Pressure is the urge to do, the need to do. It is not a flame to be extinguished, but a fire in the soul to blaze the trail of life. Don't wilt under the heat, but rather direct it with purpose!

Slow?

Is God Slow?

How long do we wait? Oh, were we waiting? Have you ever had someone tell you that you were as slow as Christmas? If you were waiting for your annual pair of shoes that would come to you as a Christmas gift, Christmas could be slow in coming.
If we lived in a place where there was oppression, maybe we would cry out to God that he would bring his justice to bear. If we lived in a place where people could trap you with easy credit…or if we lived in a land that cultivated your dissatisfaction, that always encouraging you to want more, to need more. If you lived in a world where the pressure was mounting all the time, and you felt behind, less than, small…. Or if you found your self in a bind where you could just die. You might cry out for God to hurry. “Make things right, Lord!”
Why doesn’t God jump in to set things right in Rwanda, in Darfur where genocide is still going on? Why does God not keep children from suffering abuse from their parents hands? And why is living and dying so difficult? From managing finances, to families, to the daily grind…life is sweet…and difficult.We want justice in the world. I really think we do. But we are hesitant about justice for ourselves. That is what I think this text is about. Justice. When will we get it? What is God’s answer?Justice is coming. God will make things right. You might want to take the opportunity of the mean time to make every effort.He is patient with you. Our Lord’s patience means salvation.

2 Peter 3:8-15 (NIV) 8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. 11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. 14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation.

Have you ever wondered why you were not instantly destroyed when you did what was wrong? People think that since God is slow, since no lightning strikes them dead, that God does not care.
What a terrible day it will be! It will be frightening to see the heavens disappear with a roar, the elements melt and the earth laid bare. It is like any of the great catastrophes. What matters to you in moments like that? When you have to pack the car to run from a hurricane. We thought about what was important. What if we were not coming back? It was interesting what some of you saw when you were on the road from Hurricane Rita. People were demonstrating their real character. Some were so helpful and gracious. Some were selfish, desperate, and thoughtless. Some tossed garbage as they went. Some cared for those in distress.

This passage of Scripture is telling us something. The most important things are not things. When all of this burns up, we will hardly notice. God is promising a new heaven and a new earth. God is promising a home for righteousness. The Home of Righteousness. Heaven.
Hebrews 12:22-23 (NRSV) 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,

You Have Come!
It is coming. What kind of people will you be?
Holy. Godly. Does that sound boring? It means loving, joyful, peaceful, patient and kind. It means living in imitation of the character of God. It means living for justice for those who are being treated unjustly. It is welcoming the stranger. It is generosity. It is caring. About people. About animals. About creation. And it is about patience.