Proverbs 8:12
“I, Wisdom, live together with good judgment.
I know where to discover knowledge and discernment.”
No matter how great our cause, when we push ourselves beyond the limits designed for us by God, we suffer the same results as those who burn out in any other pursuit. Those of us who are classic work-a-holics must learn how to make stress work for us instead of against us.
Here are a few insights learned from experience:
1. Many people don’t know how to handle life any other way than being under a constant blanket of stress. (When our only tool is a hammer, we tend to see every problem as a nail.) You need to acknowledge that stress is like emotional adrenaline to you – which is why you keep creating it and even craving it (as crazy as that sounds).
2. When you sit in a chair and you hear the legs begin to crack, common sense tells you that if you don’t take your weight off of the chair, you’re going to be on the floor pretty quickly with a big thud. Use your common sense to heed the telltale signs of your health cracking and the stress taking over so you don’t begin to crack yourself. When we crack under the pressure, we greatly diminish what we can do for God or anyone else.
3. Learn prudence. The word prudence means “careful management”. A prudent person becomes a better manager of their time, their energy, and their God-given gifts.
4. Identify your stressors. I know a lot of mine, have you identified yours? Change the ones you can, and start accepting the ones you can’t – such as other people. Learn to adapt to any stressor that can’t be changed so that the stress they create motivates you instead of burying you.
5. Most importantly, spend more time with Jesus, who said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
Related Text:
Proverbs 8:1-14
