day 594: Stress Relief

No matter how we try, stress has a way of hanging around and staying present. We bury it for awhile or we tuck it away after a few days on vacation and then something triggers its return and it starts influencing us again. Not all stress is bad. Actors and athletes would never get to the top of their game if they didn't have some stress to drive them. Nor would we when we have to give the big presentation or close the important deal. We need some of that stress to sharpen and focus us. But, what we don't need is the hang-around and keep us up night after night stress that drags us down and wreaks havoc on our body and mind. It's important that we monitor and know ourselves well enough to know the difference between good and bad stress. It's counter-intuitive but one way to beat stress is to stress our our minds and bodies into other things that take us away from what is bringing on the bad stress. Physical exercise is good, we know that but at some point we can only spend so many hours working out so exercise of the body is not the full answer. Exercise of the mind is also important. But, this exercise must also be really good for us. David tells us the best way to work our minds to relieve the stress, "As pressure and stress bear down on me, I find joy in your commands". If we begin to exercise and discipline ourselves in the commands of the Lord we will find that the stresses of this world will fall away. Let's today, try and see if we can't find what David found in the joy and stress-relief of the Lord.

Reference: Psalm 119:143 (New Living Testament)

day 413: The Final Days...

Much gets done in the 11th hour but usually work that gets done at the last minute comes with some ugliness in the process. It is in the last days, hours and minutes that the true nature of people becomes apparent. Sometimes that will be the good-nature of people who know how to get things done when every one else around them are tired, on edge and cranky. But for most of us, we go into defense mode and our ragged emotions can get the best of us and the not so attractive parts of us surface. Egos take over, frustrations turn into nasty words sprayed across whoever comes into the line of fire, stress and pressure causes us to boil over and self-control melts into trying to control others. I have many example of friendships unraveling in the quest for the finish line in the final days. The final days are never any fun. It is in these times that we need to be self-aware enough to know that our humanness and nature could lead into saying and doing things that we will regret later. It might be useful to keep a check-list of these watch-outs in front of us during these times so that we don't fall into the trap or slide into a hole that we can't dig ourselves out from. In 2 Timothy 3:1-4 Paul describes to Timothy what will happen to people in the final days before Christ returns, but the similarities of how we all can act in our own final days that we face are stark and can be that watch list for us; "You should also know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control; they will be cruel and have no interest in what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasures rather than God." It is a harsh list but I suspect there are traits here that are not unfamiliar to any of us who have our backs to the wall and in the final days and hours of stressful projects. If we are in the middle of this now, or see these days coming, let us guard our hearts first and then allow God to guard us against living out any of these traits. May we be guarded, stay safe and true to what we know and believe in any final days.

Reference: 2 Timothy 3:1-4 (New living Testament)

day 125: More Strength Needed

I am convinced that now more than ever, at least in in my work life, that the stress and strain of our jobs is wearing us down. In the times we are in we are being asked to do more with less, we are watching our peers lose their jobs or we are losing our own jobs. If we have a job we worry about the security of it going forward and we now have to consider that our employer, in order to keep our role in the company, may ask us to take a pay cut. These are stressful and painful times. But through it all we are expected to get up and at it each and every day with a positive attitude and accomplishing motivation. It is not easy and we can see the signs of stress in our co-workers and ourselves. There is not as much laughter at the lunch table nor willingness to spend more time together outside of work. The fun that was once part of the job has seemed to dissipate and the level of consternation and short-fused temperaments is way up. If this doesn't wear us down nothing can. However, we can't let it. God expects us to lean on Him to bring us through this time and to do so in a way that we continue to be a lighthouse of refuge for others. We are to be the ones who can surf on top of the waves in the storm and continue to be encouragers and the most optimistic and positive people in the office. How do we do that when we ourselves are tired, stressed and run down? One of my favorite Bible passages is in Isaiah Chapter 40, verse 31 that says; "But those who wait on the Lord will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint." What a tremendous promise that God gives us. In these troubled times we should not feel that we must push through and hustle through the day alone. God says, "Wait", and He will bring us the strength we need to not only walk through the day, but to run and to fly! I like to talk to groups about how we are supposed to bring God to work with us not leave him at home. This verse always gives me the image that waiting on the Lord at work, would be like going through the front door of the office in the morning and instead of opening the door and barging through and expecting God to follow, that we would instead, pause, wait on Him and open the door for God to go through first. We then can follow.

Reference: Isaiah 40:31 (New Living Testament).