Colossians 1:29 To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.

I think Christians endure a lot more stress than God intends. Stress itself isn’t necessarily bad. Without it, we would quickly become aimless slobs. However, excessive stress damages our health, not to mention our peace and joy. Paul here gives the secret to dealing with it all: realizing that we aren’t in this alone. When we think or feel that we have to deal with everything in our own strength and wisdom, our stress level goes through the roof. When we realize that God is at work in and through us, accomplishing His will by His power, then we can let go and let Him take over. That’s not being lazy; someone in that situation can indeed be “busier than a cat on a hot tin roof,” as the old saying goes. However, the stress level is magnitudes lower, because of the awareness that God is in control. I think the biggest issue is in taking ourselves too seriously. We need to realize that we aren’t who gets anything right; that has to be God working in and through us. When that’s how we see things, we can laugh at ourselves and have a good time in the process. When we think it’s all about us, we totally stress out and make things much harder on ourselves and everyone around us, and the results frankly aren’t as good.

This couldn’t be more timely, because the Christmas season has long been a pressure cooker for me, as I’m sure it is for most pastors, at least. The schedule is packed and the emotional demands peak on top of everything else. Thankfully, this year I seem to be learning the lesson of what I just wrote. Yesterday’s schedule was loaded indeed, but everything got done, including things I didn’t know about when the day started. Today likewise has many thing looming, and who knows what else may happen, but God is still in control, and He has given me some ideas of how to juggle things. I just might enjoy this Christmas! I need to be like Paul: “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:10) Silly little me can be an instrument of almighty God! It’s been years now since He told me to rest, relax, and rejoice in Him, and I’m still learning how to do that. Sometimes I can be a really slow learner! However, as I have known for a long time, when I manage to take my eyes off of myself and fix them on Christ Jesus my Lord, everything falls into place and I am carried along by His Spirit, and His will is done in and through me for His glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for the amazing dovetailing of events yesterday, and for how You are going to take care of today as well. May I enjoy the ride, for my blessing and the blessing of those around me, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!