Coping With A Busy And Stress Filled Life

Reading: Luke chapter 10 verses 38-42.

Ill:

• Outside the Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen,

• Which is Denmark’s Parliament building.

• There are three stone figures guarding the entrance.

• They represent the earache, the headache, and the stomach ache.

• They were placed there to suggest that if you enter politics,

• You will have all three!

• We live in a very stress-filled society:

• And it effects all of us, not just politicians.

Stress can result from anything that:

• Annoys you

• Threatens you

• Prods you

• Excites you

• Scares you

• Worries you

• Hurries you

• Angers you

• Frustrates you

• Challenges you

• Criticizes you

• Or by anything that reduces your self-esteem

Ill:

• Think about an elastic band.

• If stretched, it will return to its normal, relaxed position when the external force is removed.

• Stress occurs when the body’s stress response is also stretched;

• Whenever it is subjected to any emergency or demand.

• But it ought to return to a normal, relaxed state when the demand is removed.

• If stretched for a long time and held, it loses its elastic properties and will eventually snap.

We too can snap when affected by too much stress:

• Our bodies let us know that something is wrong;

• By creating within us various symptoms:

Ill:

• Frequent headaches

• Irregular heartbeats

• Stiffness in the neck, shoulders, jaw, arms, legs, hands or stomach.

• Getting dizzy or light-headed.

• Suffering from colds, flu or hoarseness

• Indigestion, nausea or discomfort in the stomach.

• Difficulty falling or staying asleep.

• Waking up feeling tired

• Cold hands or cold feet

• Excess perspiration

• Anger or irritability

Now all of us will experience some form of stress, experts have come up with a number of suggestions for dealing with stress:

Ill:

(1) Identify your triggers,

(2) Take up a hobby,

(3) Practice breathing exercises,

(4) Do some exercising,

(5) Develop a support network through friends, family, and co-workers.

While all of those may be good, practical, useful suggestions:

• As Christians, we have a much better method of coping with stress.

• We have the Lord to draw support and help from.

• i.e. Last week in psalm 46 we noted that;

• “God is a refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble”.

Reading: Luke chapter 10 verses 38-42.

ILL:

Photographs can be very deceptive,

• Whoever said; "The camera never lies ",

• Never had a studio portrait done of themselves or their family.

• Studio portrait are perfect prints:

• Every hair is in place, people are wearing their best clothes,

• Everybody is told to stand or sit in a certain way.

• Even the background is designed to create the perfect picture.

Yet in reality that family, that home may be the complete opposite of what's portrait:

• For the camera and for the public we show one side of ourselves,

• But in our homes we can often reveal another totally different side.

Ill:

• Adrian Plass Poem: The Real Problem.

• Written from a small child’s point of view.

“Sunday is a funny day,

It starts with lots of noise.

Mummy rushes round with socks,

And Daddy shouts, 'You boys!'

Then Mummy says, 'Now don't blame them,

You know you're just as bad,

You've only just got out of bed,

It really makes me mad!'

My mummy is a Christian,

My daddy is as well, .

My mummy says 'Oh, heavens!'

My daddy says 'Oh, hell!'

And when we get to church at last,

It's really very strange,

Cos Mum and Dad stop arguing,

And suddenly they change.

At church my mum and dad are friends,

They get on very well,

But no one knows they've had a row,

And I'm not gonna tell.

People often come to them,

Because they seem so nice,

And Mum and Dad are very pleased

To give them some advice.

They tell them Christian freedom

Is worth an awful lot,

But I don't know what freedom means,

If freedom's what they've got.

Daddy loves the meetings,

He's always at them all,

He's learning how to understand

The letters of St Paul.

But Mummy says, 'I'm stuck at home

To lead my Christian life,

It's just as well for blinkin' Paul

He didn't have a wife.'

I once heard my mummy say

She'd walk out of his life,

I once heard Daddy say to her

He'd picked a rotten wife.

They really love each other,

I really think they do.

I think the people in the church

Would help them-if they knew”.

In Luke chapter 10:

• We get a behind the scenes look into a real home;

• And the opportunity to glean some information on coping with a busy & stress filled life.