Blessed Or Stressed?

Good stress, also called “eustress”, is very beneficial to our life. It means we stretch ourselves to be our very best. For years we've believed that stress is a bad thing - it damages our health. But stress can have a good side.

Illus: For example, for a violinist to make music, the strings on the violin must be tight—but only to a degree.

• If they are too tight, they will snap

• If they are too loose, they will produce no sound at all

The proper amount of tension lies somewhere between the two extremes.

There is GOOD STRESS and BAD STRESS, and it is important that we know the difference. It is obvious today that we live in a STRESSFUL WORLD and it is equally obvious that folks in our society do not know how to DEAL WITH THE STRESS in their lives!

(1) WE SEE THAT ON THE JOB SITE

Many jobs can become very stressful.

Illus: A man got a job as a night watchman at a factory. There had been a lot of thefts by the workers on the night shift, so every morning when the night shift workers passed through his gate, it was his job to check their bags and pockets to make sure that nothing was being stolen. All the stealing going on placed him under a lot of stress! Things were going along very well the first night on the job until a man pushing a wheelbarrow of newspapers came through the gate. “Aha,” he thought, “that man thinks he can cover up what he is stealing with that newspaper.” So he removed the paper only to find nothing. Still he felt that the man was acting strangely, so he questioned him about the paper. "I get a little extra money from newspapers I recycle, so I go into the lunchroom and pick up all the papers people have thrown away." The guard felt sorry after hearing his sad story, patted him on the back, and let him pass. The next night it was the same, and the night after that. Week after week it went on. The same guy would push the wheelbarrow of newspapers past the guard's checkpoint. The guard would always check and find nothing in the wheelbarrow. Then one night, about a year later, the guard reported for work only to find a message had been left for him telling him to report to the supervisor. He walked into the supervisor's office, and before he could say a word, the boss said, "You're fired!" "Fired?" he asked in total surprise. "Why? What did I do?" "It was your job to make sure that no one stole anything from this plant and you have failed. So you're fired." "Wait a minute, what do you mean I failed. Nobody ever stole anything from this place while I was on guard. “Oh, really," the boss answered. "Then how do you account for the fact that there are 365 wheelbarrows missing?"

We see that stress is a problem in the work force and also-

(2) WE SEE IT IN TODAY’S MARRIAGES

Illus: They stood at the altar, waiting to be married. The young man was very stressed out with all the marriage arrangements he found himself involved in. He wanted to have a small wedding with only a few of his friends there, but she wanted a big wedding. He had his own way of dealing with the stress of the marriage ceremony. The bride to be looked down and saw a set of golf clubs beside her new husband's feet. She whispered, “What on earth are you doing with those golf clubs?" "Well," he said, "this won't take all afternoon will it?"

Stress has played a major part in job failures and marriage failures.

(3) WE SEE IT IN THE DOCTOR’S OFFICE

Stress can contribute to heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes, depression, and other harmful things. One fourth of all the drugs prescribed in the United States go to the treatment of stress.

Listen, those who are 55 and over can remember a time in this country when you hardly ever heard anyone talking about taking pills for STRESS and DEPRESSION. Today a common conversation is about how many pills people take a day!

One of the big problems in the ministry is the stress that many ministers have to deal with.

Illus: Brother John entered the 'Monastery of Silence' and the Chief Priest said, "Brother, this is a silent monastery, you are welcome here as long as you like, but you may not speak until I direct you to do so."

Brother John lived in the monastery for a full year before the Chief Priest said to him:

• "Brother John, you have been here a year now, you may speak two words." Brother John said, "Hard bed." "I'm sorry to hear that," the Chief Priest said. "We will get you a better bed."