In our last blog, we discussed the stress filled life of Daniel Boone, and how we can use his life as a model to see how we can turn down the stress. As you may recall, Boone endured just about every stressor that one could have. If you think your life is hard, think about being Daniel Boone.
(Imagine being $20 million in debt, being sued, having your son being tortured to death, your daughter kidnapped, being chased by a bear, and just when you thought your day couldn’t get any worse…you go to the outhouse and realize your wife just used the last corncob).
“Calling Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard”
Careful planning can reduce potential stressful experiences. Consider the example in the last blog of being chased by a bear. This stress could be avoided by:
Today you decided to take a nice walk in the forest after you got home from work. It’s a good way to unwind after a long day. As you walk down the trail, enjoying the beauty around you, you hear some strange rattling in the nearby bushes. You step closer to see what’s causing it, and suddenly realize it’s a mama grizzly and her cub. She lets out a loud roar. Before you have time to even think, you’re darting 20 feet in the opposite direction. This is the most stress you’ve ever felt in your life. But what is stress?
Perhaps the answer lies in comparing our (i.e. humanities) viewpoint of life events with God’s perspective. Let’s start with some examples in Biblical history of people’s response when good things have happened to them:
“CRUNCH!” What was that? I turned to look forward and saw the emergency phone pole. It suddenly became painfully obvious that I had been wrong. I had thought the pole was put there for someone to use the phone in case of emergency. But no, it looks like the pole was actually put there to create an emergency. I got out of the car to survey the damage…and yes, I had just totaled my car going 10mph through an otherwise empty parking lot.
It’s not good to do it, we aren’t supposed to do it, but we do it anyhow. Lying, that is. Studies have shown that the average person lies at least once a day1. Some people lie up to 40 times a day. We won’t say what profession that is, but the incidence probably goes down in non-election years. On average, we are lied to several times a day.
Gratitude can be really painful. Kind of like Rocky Balboa taking a punch. It may hurt a lot in the short run, but it will make you strong enough to win by the next fight.