The Conversation Continued... Managing Stress

This post is an effort, of sorts, to keep the conversation going. My hope is that what's talked about when we gather together isn't something that goes in one ear and then out the other, but rather something that informs, as well as challenges and encourages. Feel free to engage with me (and others) on here and/or in person!

"There is nothing else we do better when we do conversation well. There is no other communication device that provides such subtle and instantaneous feedback, nor permits such a range of evaluation and correctability."

- Richard Saul Wurman

So here's to the continuation of what began... to the conversation continued, about managing stress.

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This morning, Glenn walked us through something that is arguably the number one challenge and enemy college students face today, stress and worry. During the midst of our conversation, one of our guests, Justin, pointed out that it's whenever we are approaching the time of day when we lie down and begin to fall asleep, that we are seemingly bombarded by a surplus of worries and anxiety that we've seem to outrun all day. This got me thinking, maybe the reason we are overwhelmed by such stressful thoughts when we try to fall asleep is simply because that's the first time all day where we haven't kept ourselves busy to the point that we don't have time for them. Put another way, we've been running from them all day that we now that we finally stop, it catches up. Kyla shared a wonderful practical suggestion, that she will sometimes pray until she falls asleep. While that is absolutely a great idea, I wanted to pitch another one that while it might be challenging, I think it would be even more effective.

Maybe, since we're constantly running all day long, we need to take time to practice an old, neglected spiritual discipline: solitude. Think about it. Maybe all of our stresses and anxieties that bombard us at bedtime can be dealt with and given over of God during a time BEFORE bedtime. What if we stopped, just long enough, to allow our anxieties and worries to catch up and be dealt with before trying to sleep? This isn't an original idea. In fact, Jesus often practiced this while He was living here on earth. In an effort to keep this post from being SUPER LONG, I'll leave you with some practical suggestions/ideas, both for further research and for applying this discipline.


Thoughts For Application:

1. Pick a time each week where you can go off on your own (for maybe 20 min), where you allow all of your worries/anxieties for the coming days gather before you. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you why your heart rate seems to race, and what is maybe even causing stress that you didn't even realize. Then, follow the Scriptures advice. "Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you." (1 Peter 5.17, NIV)
2. Schedule your times. If you make them a non-negotiable in your schedule (treat it as a 'prior engagement' when other things arise), you'll be prepared and ready for when more stressful things get dumped on your plate (like homework, group projects, etc.).

Further Reading/Information:

1. Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster  (HIGHLY recommended)

Now... let the conversation continue... what do you think?...

Review: The Day the Revolution Began: Reconsidering the Meaning of Jesus's Crucifixion

The Day the Revolution Began: Reconsidering the Meaning of Jesus's Crucifixion by N.T. Wright
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a superb read! In typical Wright fashion, the material is engaging and thought provoking all throughout. In this volume, Wright takes on the 'platonized' version of Christianity that marks nearly all of the Western church, namely the view of atonement and eschatology ending with us 'abandoning' earth and 'going to heaven.' This is a grave error, according to Wright. Rather than living by a 'works contract' view of atonement (for this is highlights the penal substitution perspective), Wright emphasizes a 'vocational covenant' perspective. This seems similar to what I read (though I could be wrong because it's been a few years and I didn't read the whole volume) to G.K. Beale's 'A New Testament Biblical Theology.' Rather than 'abandoning' earth and escaping the physical world for heaven (a heavily Plato influenced idea), Wright recaptures the Biblical eschatology where there will be a new heavens and a new earth that come together (God with His people) and the reality of a physical resurrection.

While there is a lot of repetition, I believe Wright does so because of the subject matter he's addressing and the high likelihood of a reader to lose track of the picture he's trying to weave together and fall back into the platonized Christianity we are currently in. This book is definitely worth a read for minister and non alike! I ESPECIALLY like the last chapter, where Wright talks about the practical application and implications of this 'vocational covenant.' That chapter alone, for me, would have been worth the whole book! (Though I'm sure if you were to read it by itself, you'd develop an itching for more that could only be satisfied by reading the rest!) =)

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