Everyone seems to be talking about how stressed they are, or how fine everything is. Even if the reality shows that the stress of the day produces an enemy to life.
In and of itself, stress is not the enemy. What we do when the stresses come, how we react and respond, well, that’s where the enemy lies.
I suspect the identity of stress as an enemy is the amount of stress that comes, how long it stays around, and what the end results of it might be. Too much stress. Perhaps not enough counteracting strength to stand up to the stressors. We struggle.
We do not live better when stress is non-existent. Rather, we are challenged to grow, improve and go when stress steps in at an appropriate time. And in appropriate amounts.
Too much comfort is dangerous. Literally.
Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley did an experiment some time ago that involved introducing an amoeba into a perfectly stress-free environment.
Ideal temperature, optimal concentration of moisture, constant food supply-the amoeba had an environment to which it had to make no adjustment whatsoever.
So you would guess that that was a happy little amoeba. Whatever it is that gives amoebas ulcers and high blood pressure was gone.
Yet, oddly enough, it died.
Apparently there is something about all living creatures, even amoebas, that demands a challenge.
We require change, adaptation, and challenge the way we require food and air.
Comfort alone will kill us. [Source]
How Much Is Too Much
How much stress is too much? It depends on you, me, life and the situations we find ourselves dealing with. Equally, it depends on how much stress we’ve been dealing with.
How much stress is too much? It depends on each of us to know how much we can handle, and then learn how to unload the moment into peaceful acceptance that I don't have to carry the load alone. Share on XOnly you can answer this question. Each of us knows our limits, but we often understand it only when we go through the stressors of life. We learn our limits, and if we are wise, we learn how to control our response.
Horatio Spafford shows us a unique approach to loads of stress. We’ve heard his story often. He loses his 4-year-old son in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, then loses his financial base because he invested heavily in the area the fire destroyed. A few years later, planning an overseas trip, he sends his wife and daughters ahead… and their ship sinks. Only the wife survives. When he sails afterward, he comes to the part of the ocean where the accident occurred. The words of his song speak volumes of how to recognize and deal with stress.
It Is Well With My Soul
It Is Well With My Soul (emphasis mine)
When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to know
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
Refrain
It is well, (it is well),
With my soul, (with my soul)
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life,
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.
But Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul.
And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
A song in the night, oh my soul!
A Long Time Ago
A long time ago, yet it seems only like yesterday,
The stresses of my life kept me up way too late.
Twirling through the night, my mind would not quit.
It left me tired, exhausted, worn to a frazzled life.
But in the midst of an extremely hard test,
A trial that seemed like I would crumble and fall,
That strong hand of God reached into my heart,
And lifted me safely out of the fray.
Like David of old, from that miry pit of life,
He put me on a solid foundation that would not crack.
From that day forward, it’s been easier, step by step
Each moment stress threatens I remember my base.
On the solid rock I do stand, all other is sinking sand.
Though storm-tossed through life, there is peace in the midst.
In the middle of every midnight, I look for the light.
Nothing will rock my world as long as He is My Right.