Dealing With Stress!

Stress is one of the things of life that seems difficult to avoid. With hectic schedules associated with school, work, and family, so much to do, things that don’t go as planned, conflicts and losses of various kinds, etc., the weight of pressure rises. The key is in learning how to manage in spite of it all. I don’t believe there is any one of us that does not have some sort of stress to deal with from time to time. We each deal with varying stresses in different ways and looking around us we see some who seem to deal with it all pretty well while others do not. However, it is not always so much the object of the stress as much as it is the length of time it is being endured that creates the greatest weight upon us.

The following illustration is from a portion of an e-mail I received a couple months ago titled “Stress Management”.

“A lecturer when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, ‘How heavy is this glass of water?’ Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g. The lecturer replied, ‘The absolute weight doesn’t matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that’s not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you’ll have to call an ambulance. In each case, it’s the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.’ He continued, ‘And that’s the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won’t be able to carry on. As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we’re refreshed, we can carry on with the burden. So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don’t carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you’re carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can.’”

Many things can be easily endured for the moment. The real challenge is when those burdens continue to be with us. Through continuing to carry our burdens and cares, the weight can eventually become unbearable. Are we continuing to hold them? Sometimes we need to SET THEM DOWN OR ASIDE for a moment while we carry on other tasks of life and then pick them up again. Enjoying a little physical exercise and recreation or a hobby are good stress relievers as well as ways of getting the mind off the challenges for a moment. Also time we withdraw from life’s activities for worship and study together is a way of setting life’s burdens ASIDE AND REFUEL AND BE REFRESHED. The way to approach this at night is to go to God in prayer, UNLOADING OUR CARES before Him with a trust that He will help us deal with them, and then close our eyes and get the rest we need.

The Psalmist David urged…
“CAST YOUR BURDEN ON THE LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.” ( Psalm 55:22 ESV)

David faced many stressful situations in his life. However, he looked to God and trusted in Him to sustain him.

Peter also encouraged…
“(6) Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, (7) CASTING ALL YOUR ANXIETIES ON HIM, BECAUSE HE CARES FOR YOU.” ( 1 Peter 5:6-7 ESV)

There is also a way in which we are to be mindful of helping each other. Lifting our hands up is an easy task until we have held them up a long time. Remember when Moses held up the staff of God in his hands while Israel was winning a battle against Amalek. However, as the battle went on, Moses was only able to keep his hands up with the help of Aaron and Hur. ( Exodus 17:12)

Paul exhorted…
“BEAR ONE ANOTHER’S BURDENS, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” ( Galatians 6:2 ESV)

The burdens Paul mentioned here are what could be described as an “overload.” Therefore there are times when we need to learn to put the burdens down for a while and then other times when we need to rely on the help of our brothers and sisters in Christ to keep us from collapsing under the weight. We need to be willing to do this for others as well.

May we trust God as we LAY LIFE’S CARES BEFORE HIM and remain in relationships where we are also blessed by the support of others. In this way we will find strength to endure.

Have a great day LEARNING TO LET LOOSE OF LIFE’S LOADS!
Carl

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