The challenge of living in a mutually exclusive world - why it's OK to be both blessed and stressed

I have seen on a handful of ornaments, signs and images this saying: "Too blessed to be stressed!" and in the back of my mind, thought 'oh yeah, I'm blessed, don't stress ... don't stress, don't stress, don't stress, don't stress???.'.  And then it occurred to me - you CAN be both.

We seem to live in an mutually exclusive society. It is an either or world, never both. One must be right or wrong, good or bad, true or false ... therefore blessed or stressed.

It finally occurred to me that God did not create a mutually exclusive world - that is our version that has made things much more complicated in an attempt to probably originally simplify.

I heard yesterday a great reminder that the opposite of more doesn't have to be less - it can be contentment ... to not want more but to be happy with what you have. Another paradigm shift to a mutually exclusive world.

The opposite of 'more' doesn't have to be 'less', it can be 'contentment'.

One of the largest challenges to a relationship is a lack of humility. Humility is our own ability to  accept that we could be wrong and at fault at any given time. There is nothing more challenging than engaging with someone that is always right or will always one up you.  And if we are willing to admit our shortfalls, our spouses and friends are naturally more willing to forgive them when they occur.

It Biblical too, God calls us to be humble. If we are arrogant in our lives, we will be superficial in our faith. Faith is built on the foundation that we can not do it alone, that we rely on God to get us through the hard times.

So, I wonder - was Mary stressed? An unwed woman (young girl, at that) who had to travel many miles while extremely pregnant to not be able to find a suitable place to give birth. (I can't imagine how we'd unpack that at our weekly playgroup if she were to come and ask for advice!!)

God reminds us time and time again to give our worries to Him ... to worry less and have stronger faith. God does, and will, provide.

We must have faith. In our fear and our worry, we lean on God. Our worry encourages our humility and reminds us that God's world is much bigger than the mutuality exclusive world to which we tend to confine ourselves.


Worry and stress our part of our lives. God reminds us not to worry throughout the Bible. However I have not found anywhere that it says that it's a sin to worry or stress. He calls us to not to worry as it is an individual response to a worldly problem. He calls us to chose prayer over worry. He does not want us to go it alone. He wants to share our troubles so that He can bare our burdens.  God is most at work when our shields of arrogance our down and our humility is raw and we are dependent on His strength. 

You are not alone - and you are not blessed OR stressed. Through the blessings and the stresses - He is with us.

Where do you fall on the generosity spectrum?

Would you define yourself as generous? How about compassionate? Maybe you haven't thought about it before? ... I'd like to share some statistics from Defying Gravity by Tom Berlin (we just did a sermon series on this) that I found really thought provoking.

In a study done a few years ago (2010), 45% of Americans reported giving $0 of their income to any charitable purpose (this is self reported). Nearly half of us gave away not a single penny to Girl Scouts, school fundraisers, churches, Salvation Army ... anything. Another 41.3% gave less than 2% of their income away, which means the majority of the financial generosity of our nation is provided by only 15% percent of the population.  So ... money's tight. What about time? 

If you're involved in your child's PTO, PTA or sports, etc., you may know how hard it is to find people who are able to help, especially with dual working parents and single parents - we are all busy! Again, in a self reported survey, over 76% of people reported giving NO volunteer hours to any organization. That means 3 out of 4 people help in no volunteer capacity at all. OK ...When we look at generosity, maybe it seems like something that fits more on a 15 year plan - not on our 6 month plan.  

What does every day generosity of spirit look like? It's being patient with a child, helping someone in need, listening to neighbor, extending forgiveness to a family members, texting someone you know who's having a rough day, sending a thank you card. These are all traits of a generous spirit- that cost very little. So I guess we can be hopeful that these are all things our self-reporting friends are doing but don't fall into the categories of the survey?

I'm reminded of the climate on social media in the height of the political season and I'm wondering if we are generous with our praise, generous with compassion and understanding?

Maybe we just don't have time to be generous. Are we so busy we have lost our ability to be generous? Are we experiencing such a scarcity in generosity that we are no longer able to be caring?

I don't think it's true. I think there good people all around us doing good deeds. As the beloved Mr. Rodger's is known for saying "When I as a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'"  He continued: “To this day, especially in times of ‘disaster,’ I remember my mother’s words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers — so many caring people in this world.”

When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/f/fredrogers737842.html

When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/f/fredrogers737842.html

When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." To this day, especially in times of "disaster," I remember my mother's words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world." - See more at: http://www.fredrogers.org/parents/special-challenges/tragic-events.php#sthash.qBbWU9ks.dpuf

When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." To this day, especially in times of "disaster," I remember my mother's words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world." - See more at: http://www.fredrogers.org/parents/special-challenges/tragic-events.php#sthash.qBbWU9ks.dpuf

If we challenge ourselves to be generous, we can be the hope for others; we can be generous spirits in a culture of deprivation. If not during the holidays, then when else? I hope to model to my own children the importance of being generous over being productive. I pray we can do this together. Let's work together to be the helpers.