May You Have All Three, Always

D.L. Moody sounded stressed when he said this cheeky statement years ago: “I’m glad we are saved by grace, not by good works, because I don’t want to go to heaven and listen to everybody brag for eternity about how they got there.” That would be stressful, and indeed, if it’s for all eternity. 

When explaining stress management to an audience, a lecturer raised a glass of water and asked, "How heavy is this glass of water?" Answers called out ranged from 20 grams to 500 grams. The lecturer replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you 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 will have to call an ambulance. In each case, it's the same weight. However, the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes." 

He continues, "And that is how 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. When refreshed, we can carry on with the burden. So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work or whatever is burdening you down. Don't carry it home. Please don't pass it along to your spouse or kids. You can pick it up tomorrow!" 

That's good advice. If you never stop, you can't start! Sometimes, we must ‘come apart’ from our current stress, or we will fall apart. Many folks today are like a billiard table with balls scattered all over. From time to time, we all need to take time to re-rack our mental and emotional billiard balls.  

Jesus taught us about stress management and how to move from stressed to de-stressed. Remember the Bible story when Jesus' disciples were in the middle of a sea in the middle of the night, and in the middle of the perfect storm? I'll bet their blood pressure was 190 over 130. Then Jesus appears, walking on water. They thought it was a ghost. Let's take a glimpse into the disciples' minds. It's midnight in the perfect storm, in the middle of the sea, and now there's a ghost walking on water. Mercury rising. Now, their blood pressure is 210 over 150. 

Yet, even in the middle of the storm, Jesus was there. Then Jesus spoke to his stressed-out companions, saying, "Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid." There are 365 times in the Bible that God says, "Do not be afraid." If you are like me, you need a ‘fear not’ at least once daily, every day of the year. Sure enough, the storm calmed down.  

The lesson here is this: don't let the storm on the outside of you get inside of you. Great advice for the storm-challenged and overly stressed, huh? Maybe it’s time to relax, cool our jets, turn off our fear alarm clock, quit watching the news (especially the political commercials), and re-rack our emotions. Remember the glass of water? The longer you hold it, the heavier it becomes. 

In Matthew 6, Jesus calmed the storm inside of 5000 stressed-out, hope-hungry people. He said, "Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them. If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers - most of which are never even seen - don't you think He will attend to you, take pride in what you do, and do His best for you? I'm trying to say here: relax, don't be so occupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving." That’s good advice from Jesus. 

Let me paraphrase what Jesus said: “Relax, rest, and trust in Me. Open your eyes. Look up. God has things under control. When you're stressed, you can’t respond to God and all that God has given you. Here’s another option. With your thinking choice and my power, you can pivot from 'too stressed to be blessed' to 'too blessed to be stressed.’ A negative mind will never give you a positive life." 

Let me be honest and transparent with you. I'm stressed about life right now. There is too much drama in the world and my world right now. What is on the outside of me is trying to get inside of me. I’m slowly learning that it's not the load that breaks you down, but how you carry it breaks you down. 

Let’s see if we get the message here. When life gets too stressful, put down the glass, sleep late for one day, and ‘come apart’ from the drama lest you ‘come apart’ because of the drama. Jesus calmed the storm for those disciples on the boat, and He can calm the storm inside you, too. 

There you go. You have been exposed to and hopefully enlightened about stress management for dummies - and smarties. I prefer the second category, but sometimes I visit the first. How about you? Learn to control how you respond to things sent to destroy your peace.  

Let's clarify the title of this article. Remember what I said today: It is not fake news or a wish-dream. It’s true faith, hope, and love. Faith makes all things possible. Hope makes all things work. Love makes all things beautiful. May you have all three, today and always.