Dealing with the pressures of life

Sometimes life’s pressures get so overwhelming that our world shrinks to just the size of those pressures. 

Hope, fun, dreams, rest, faith, all are literally ‘out of sight’ because they are far from our minds. 

Our thoughts are full of worry and it’s as if we can only see a short distance ahead. For me, I can at times feel like: ‘Life is full of these difficulties and how to get through another day.’ 

As a Christian my prayers become filled with problems; and I can lose sight of the needs of the people around me.

But life also has its share of joys and hopes, even if we lose sight of them.

There’s a passages in the world’s best-selling book (The Bible) that shows what God thinks about this: “ I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”  (Jesus, quoted in John Ch10v10)

A definition of the term on Wikipedia says that: “’Abundant life’ refers to life in its abounding fullness of joy and strength for mind, body, and soul.’ Sounds good to me! 

Also in the Good Book, the prophet Jeremiah tells us how God sees the potential of our lives:‘ “For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, … thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.” – Jeremiah Ch29v11

Hope is a brilliant perspective on life. The trouble is, how do we get there when we’re in the middle of painful suffering or heart-break? 

A good place to start is by thinking on those promises. They point to the nature of God and his active love for us. 

They are reliable promises because the One who made them is reliable. Just thinking about those promises gives our worrying brains something else to focus on, something better.

But it’s not just positive mental attitude. In the middle of real struggles we need more than that. We need those promises to be real and we need to do something ourselves.

‘Pick up the hoover and go clean Mary’s stairs’. What? That was the advice a good friend gave me thirty years ago when I was consumed with self-defeating worry. 

What he meant was ‘just go and serve Mary. Do something for somebody else.’ I almost hit him, but he was right.

I followed his advice. It took me out of myself and into thinking about how I could make someone else’s day a little better. 

A small step, but a step in the right direction. 

My shrinking world expanded beyond my preoccupied horizons. In itself it didn’t change everything. 

But as a principle to apply in the middle of problems, to help reset my self-oriented perspective, it’s proven to be so helpful.

Jesus encourages us that this world will bring us trouble, but not to be anxious about that because He’s overcome those worries already. 

A relationship with Him does not insulate us from the problems everyone faces, but it does give us hope, strength and grace to go through them with more resources than we can muster on our own.

There’s a plain English version of the bible, called ‘The Message’, which is a good read whether you have faith or not.

 It says this (Romans Ch12v10):  “Love from the centre of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.” 

I need to play second fiddle more and bring my worries down to size by serving someone else – every little helps, as they say.

Worry dominates. Love serves. And it’s love that makes life worth living, and love that ultimately remains long after the problems have been and gone. 

If we can know we are loved, and from that place love someone else, it truly puts problems into their right place.