Monday, December 12, 2016

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.

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