Mindful & Graceful Stress Management

Mindful & Graceful Stress Management

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus asked: “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (Matthew 6.27) Not only does worrying not add an hour, but research shows us that it takes away from our lives – both in length and quality. Knowing this, many of us now fear and/or fight with stress. Sometimes we even get worried about our worries. Maybe we are getting something wrong here. In her TED talk, health psychologist Dr. Kelly McGonigal, talks about how wrong we get stress:

“People who experienced a lot of stress in the previous year had a 43% increased risk of dying. But that was only true for the people who also believed that stress is harmful for your health. People who experienced a lot of stress but did not view stress as harmful were no more likely to die. Now the researchers estimated that over the eight years they were tracking deaths, 182,000 Americans died prematurely, not from stress, but from the belief that stress is bad for you.”

So why do we, despite our best efforts, continue to struggle with stress? Because our worries have a way of becoming “thorns” (Matthew 13.22) and many of us haven’t developed the “unhooking” skills to leave the thorns. These thorns often drag us away from bearing the fruit of the Spirit we desire – “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5.22). Fortunately, there is a way forward. When we shift our attention, not to our lack of fruit, but deeper to the “soil” of our thoughts, we can learn how to bear fruit in all kinds of weather. This morning, let’s practice some ways we can tend to that soil: gritty grace, all-season gratitude, and grounding/breathing.

Dr. Chris Barclay, Deacon, Manchester Church of Christ

 (At)tending to the Soil of the Soul: Mindful & Graceful Stress Management 10.09.2022