General
STRESS… Mumford's Musings
STRESS
More of Mumford’s Musings.
By
Fr. Nigel W.D. Mumford+
THE BOTTOM LINE: STRESS IS THE ENEMY!
STRESS escalates to anger then to rage… Then, on the other side of the hill downgrades to regret and disappoint with self.
Did you know that 75% to 90% of visits to the primary care giver is due to stress? The very dis-ease of stress. That leaves only 10%-25% of actual disease the primary care physician is dealing with! The problem with stress is that it can be transformed, or it can morph into a real, life threatening disease!
Stress is mentioned only once in the NIV but is us used to make a point, to STRESS a point!
Titus 3:8. NIV
This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.
Doing what is good is the opposite of stress…
So devote yourself to doing what is good!
I want to stress that stress is the enemy!
Stress is NOT excellent or profitable for anyone…
Stress is mentioned twice in the Message… One in regard to marriage, a rather amusing translation:
1 Cor 7:25-28
“Are you married? Stay married. Are you unmarried? Don’t get married. But there’s certainly no sin in getting married, whether you’re a virgin or not. All I am saying is that when you marry, you take on additional
stress in an already stressful time, and I want to spare you if possible.”
So the best biblical word I can find about stress comes from The Message in
Mark 4:18-19
“The seed cast in the weeds represents the ones who hear the kingdom news but are overwhelmed with worries about all the things they have to do and all the things they want to get. The stress strangles what they heard, and nothing comes of it.
Stress strangles what is heard… Stress translates or elevates to anxiety, fears and phobias.
Stress is therefore the enemy.
Please find ways of de-stressing…
Stress causes dis-ease…
Stress causes disease…
Dictionary simple Definition of stress: a state of mental tension and worry caused by problems in your life, work, etc. Something that causes strong feelings of worry or anxiety. Physical force or pressure.
Ergo, Stress is the enemy…
So what is the antidote…
What is the healing message of today?
The bible verse from Mathew 6:23
Seek yee first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you.
So in other words, when we realize we are stressed to say to ones self,
Mathew 6:23, seek first the Kingdom of God.
We could even thank God for the stress because it reminds us to stop and pray… To think of God first…
Ergo, we keep thanking God for the stress because it reminds us of God…
The stress then becomes a trigger for us to praise and worship the Lord.
Not a trigger to become angry, worried and fearful.
Seek yee first the kingdom of God and ALL these things shall be added unto you…
What things shall be added unto you?
Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
So, looking to Jesus we transform the stress into a form of worship…
Thank you God this situation is reminding me of you.
Of course the bottom line are the words of the Lord, as he says, in John 14:27
Peace I give to your my peace I leave with you, do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Let the peace of God wash over you when you are stressed… Use your stress as a faith builder. Turning a negative into a positive.
Stress can kill…
Stress does kills…
Stress is the enemy.
Seek first the kingdom of God… In seeking the perfection of the kingdom in His perfect peace.
Peace I give to you…
Jesus, after being awoken from the back of the boat, raised his hand toward the stormy sea and said, peace… And the wind and the waves obeyed him.
Stretch forth your hand over the storms of life COMMANDING “Peace be still” In your life…
Avoid at all cost stress as much as you can and when you walk through the storm of stress thank God… Thank you Jesus this is making me think and rely on you.
What do you do to combat stress?
Have the Lord stand between you and the stress…
Letting Him filter the issue.
Be at peace with your Soul, dear Soul.
Fr. Nigel W.D. Mumford+
Excellent post, Father. Right on the money about stress and what it does to us physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Let me take a moment to discuss the fight or flight response. Stress is the natural reaction to a threatening situation. If we see a threat (like an animal ready to eat us), our bodies prepare us to run and/or fight. Adrenaline, one of the main stress hormones surges in a stressful situation. This leads to a predominately sympathetic state of arousal. If it is a false alarm or we successfully escape, the stress dissipates and we return to balance which is more parasympathetic.
The problem with stress in modern life is that the job or the family or the finances or the whatever puts us under the same sort of stress on a long-term basis. It never goes away and we can never escape it. This chronic state of elevated adrenaline puts us in a perpetual sympathetic state and this is why our health deteriorates.
To combat stress we have to reduce the sympathetic state (called allostatic load) and return to balance. To do this, we need to make conscious efforts to enter into the more relaxed, parasympathetic state and reduce allostatic load.
How do we do that? There are many ways. Here are a few ways to de-stress:
1. Exercise – exercise burns off the excess stress hormones and gets us moving in the right direction for health and stress reduction
2. Prayer and meditation – Scientifically proven to de-stress us and it gets us closer to God at the same time, which is a double bonus.
3. Do something else. That’s right. Don’t think about work or the stressful situation all the time. Take up a hobby. Take a class you are interested in. Have fun with friends. You get the idea.
Hope this helps.
This is a wonderful way to see the stressors. Thank you , Nigel
What a fantastic message!!! Really helpful, wise and wonderful! “Do not take on stress in an already stressful time”….. look at this, how simple is the truth,?,,, why in our humanness do we complexicate matters? because we are human, but WITH THE LORD we transcend our state, and that’s where I want to be… at Peace with my Lord. Amen, Thank you, Fr. Nigel for this Musing! Beverly Wirth
Interesting, Fr. Nigel, as I am just in the process of reading Gerald May’s book, “Addiction and Grace.” He makes the point that Stress can become an addiction in that we become accustomed to high levels of stress, which become our new normal. Then it becomes difficult to just relax and be open to hearing God, as that is now “abnormal” for one addicted to stress. In my high stress occupation of a physician, that certainly rings true. Being able to de-stress and rest, come hard. Perhaps the most difficult of the 10 Commandments for me to keep is to remember the Sabbath (the Day of rest) Thanks for your insights
-Eric >