Dealing with stress

 

In 1999, 36 year old Akira Hareuya filed bankruptcy for his electrical contracting business. He immediately bought a pair of boxing gloves and went out on to the streets of Tokyo with a plan. He knew that there were lots of very stressed people on the streets of Tokyo so for $9 a minute he would allow people to punch him. To further deal with their stress they could yell at him as they punched him. The report said he made about $200 per day doing this.

 

Have you ever had to deal with stress? It's a reality of life isn't it, everyone has some kind of stress about something. How about you, how do you deal with your stress? Some folks seem to do just fine; they let the stress that enters their lives just roll over them, not seeming to affect them at all. But, then there is the rest of us who don't cope quite as well sometimes. Actually, I've found that how I deal with stress varies quite a bit and is sometimes even coupled with my physical condition. If I am not feeling well, then things seem to bother me that at other times would be no problem at all.

 

I think the same principle can be applied to us on a spiritual level also. If we are strong spiritually then we are not nearly as stressed as when we struggle spiritually. Have you ever been to a meeting of your church family or maybe a special meeting where lots of folks attended where you were especially uplifted? Maybe you came away feeling that you could handle almost anything that the world threw at you; depression wasn't an issue, because you were so high on spiritual adrenalin.

 

Now we know that God's word encourages us to meet with other Christians and that we are to encourage each other at all times. Why is it then, that when we are stressed, depressed and discouraged, that we stay away from church meetings and other Christians? In my experience it is because others seem so perfect, so godly; so spiritual, that it makes us feel even worse about ourselves. Now if that is true, then we have a real problem with our perceptions of others, because I have yet to meet anyone who is not struggling with something; we just are not aware of it. Paul writes in Romans 3:23, "For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard."

 

What about getting rid of stress, how do we do it? Well, personally I'm still working on that, but I have a direction to go in my life. Paul writes in Philippians 4:6-7, "Don't worry about anything. Instead, tell God about everything. Ask and pray. Give thanks to him. Then God's peace will watch over your hearts and your minds because you belong to Christ Jesus." (NIrV) I'm working on bringing more of God into my life all of the time through study, prayer and association with others of like mind. What about you, do you have a plan?