Morning Devotionals

by Don Emmitte

 

May 9th, 2008

 

"Honking at Your Tail Lights (Part 1)"

Jesus said, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? (Matthew 6:25-27 NIV).

Every so often I get a telephone call from a friend of mine just to vent his frustrations. I am very pleased to be able to be a listener and consoler. After all, I know he would do the same for me, and has on many occasions. This time was a little different in that he used a phrase I had never heard before. He said, “I am so stressed that I am honking at my tail lights.” Now, that took a little explaining for me. I was speechless! For those of you who know me very well, that doesn't happen very often. After a moment of silence, he went on to say he had so much to do and no time to do it all in.

The normal response for situations like this is to commiserate with the other person and talk about how stressed we are. I call this a “stress-off.” You know, it the same as when someone starts talking about their illnesses. Someone else always has another story to top theirs and it escalates from there with no help in sight.

This time I decided to do something a little different. I simply suggested that he do a Bible study on Matthew 6, especially the passage our reading is taken from today. I told him I would do the same and we could compare notes. So here are some of those notes...

The first thing we must realize is that stress is not always negative. It can help us focus and do our best. Only when we are overstressed or under stressed does the level of stress become “distress.” We should also realize that some stress is caused by events we cannot fully control. The real key in overcoming “distress” is to learn to live in peace in the midst of a busy, stressful culture. Tomorrow we'll begin by examining several strategies for dealing with stress that won't help. Then look at some strategies that do indeed help us to live without “honking at our tail lights!

For today, begin to pray that God would fill your life with the peace of his presence in the Holy Spirit and that you would be able to discern the things that you can change while accepting the things you cannot change.