Stress

We are constantly confronted with all types of stress. Sometimes we can relax a little bit, then we are right back into stressful situations. This past week has been a very stressful week for a wide variety of reasons. I am sure you have the same problem. Stress never stops. Is there any way to deal with this nagging problem? Maybe not. But the February 2010 issue of the Reader's Digest ran a page of quotes about stress. I am passing this on to all of you in this blog.

Lily Tomlin: For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.

Natalie Goldberg: Stress is an ignorant state. It believes that everything is an emergency.

Chinese proverb: Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.

Dolly Parton: The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.

Calvin Coolidge: If you see ten troubles coming down the road, you can be sure that nine will run into the ditch before they reach you.

Reese Witherspoon: Many people worry so much about managing their careers but rarely spend half that much energy managing their lives.

Julius Caesar: As a rule, what is out of sight disturbs men's minds more seriously than what they see.

Scott Adams: Stress is your body's way of saying you haven't worked out enough unpaid overtime.

Thomas Jefferson: How much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened.

David Mamet: Stress cannot exist in the presence of a pie.

Donald Tobesing: Stress is like spice--in the right proportion, it enhances the flavor of a dish. Too little produces a bland, dull mean; too much may choke you.

Jesus Christ says in the Sermon on the Mount--Matthew 6:25-34:
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap or gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if god so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you--you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today."

What a wonderful promise. This is easy to hear, but very difficult to live. I need God's help every day to make it through life. There seems to be so much stress. But God is always with us.

I hope these thoughts will encourage YOU today.

Let me hear from YOU. Share your stresses and your encouragements to others.

John Willis