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Stress-free: keeping your spirit flexible
by Dawn D. Hansen |
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 It’s a cry we
hear daily in offices, in classrooms, at home, and over
the phone from a girlfriend confiding that she's having
marital problems. We sound the alarm, we lament to our
support networks — but do we think of turning to God? Do
we ever think about stress and our spiritual life?
Likely not, if
we are so stressed out we can't handle thinking about
one more thing. Yet it is important to consider that
attending to our spiritual life during times of anxiety
can help us manage stress and rebalance our life. Also,
maintaining our spiritual health is key to general
stress relief and prevention.
We all know stress hurts us mentally. We know that it
can take its toll physically. We also need to consider
that it makes us spiritually unwell.
“I can do it myself!”
Most of us have been saying those words since we were
three years old, and now as adults we may have a deeply
ingrained, self-help, do-it-myself way of handling
stress. Maybe it’s pride, or maybe it’s lack of faith
that God can make a difference that keeps us from
turning to God and working to strengthen our spiritual
lives when we need it most.
How can we keep our spiritual life strong, especially
when our schedules are so overcrowded?
It has been said
that when Martin Luther was too busy to pray, he added
an hour to his schedule to accommodate it. He didn't
trust his personal gauge of priorities and anxiety. His
practice underscores the idea that connecting
spiritually can bring us a sense of peace. During
prayer, despite the stress in and around us, we are
reconnected with and grounded in God, who can help us
handle our stress and take on our burdens. If we do not
reconnect with God, stress can run us over like a Mack
truck.
Conversely, when
we are spiritually unwell, we're vulnerable to stress.
Stress gets to us, and so we feel separated from God.
The psalmist in Psalm 22 voices that feeling: “My God,
my God why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from
helping me? . . . I cry by day but you do not answer”
(v. 14).
But as we know, God never abandons us. That feeling of
separation is due to our inattention to our relationship
with God, or our doing things that hurt our relationship
with God. During these times, life becomes disorienting.
Stressful. We feel afraid. We begin to close up and
build walls for self-protection. But instead of
protecting ourselves, when we close up and shut things
out, we are shutting ourselves off. We don’t recognize
the valuable and necessary resources in other people and
in helpful practices. This shut-off feeling is like a
room that's closed off over the summer — it becomes
musty and dusty and dry, uncomfortable even for bugs.
In the beginning, God created us to have relationships.
Genesis 2:7 says, “then the Lord God formed man from the
dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life; and the man became a living being.”
God breathed into humanity, inspired us, and gave us the
Holy Spirit. This is how we are meant to live, in a
whole and balanced life. By keeping the Holy Spirit
alive in us, we are renewed when we devote time and
energy to our spiritual lives.
Picture a kitchen sponge: What happens when a sponge is
dried out? It is inflexible, unuseable, hard. If you try
to bend it, it cracks, breaks, crumbles.
And so it is with our spirit. As goes our spirit, so
goes the temple it is housed in. If our spirit gets
dried out from lack of immersion in the Spirit, we get
stressed. Our dry spirit cannot handle what comes our
way. Under pressure, we crack or crumble.
Now imagine soaking that kitchen sponge in water. What
happens? It softens and becomes flexible and useful.
When you press on a soaked sponge, water comes out.
Similarly, this inbreathing of God’s Spirit does us
good, just like a sponge soaked in fresh, clean water.
Under pressure, the spiritually connected release God’s
love.
Jesus’ love of God’s people is revealed in how he was
concerned with the whole person, with their emotional,
spiritual, and physical health. He cared about their
bodies: He healed paralytics, deaf and blind men, and
the woman who suffered from a hemorrhage for 12 years.
He raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead. He fed people
regularly and continues to do so today in Holy
Communion. He cared about people’s minds and emotions,
as he worked with the possessed man at Gerasa, comforted
his disciples when he said, “Do not be afraid!” and
helped Mary and Martha as they grieved over their
brother Lazarus. He was most concerned with people’s
souls or spirits, which was evident in his work of
salvation and his call to “love one another” and God
above all. Jesus’ entire ministry on earth shows us that
he does not want us to be stressed, dried out or broken,
or to live unhealthy lives.
We all know about fighting stress by eating well,
getting enough rest, not taking things too seriously,
exercising our bodies and minds, managing our time well,
and not worrying about things we cannot control. But
there's one more thing. How well do we focus on keeping
a healthy and flexible spirit? The good news is that
keeping our spirit fed and watered, flexible and giving,
is not as difficult as we might think.
Regularly hearing God’s word helps our souls stay
balanced. Exercising this spiritual discipline even when
we feel dried out connects us with God and with a
community that prays and sings together. Others lift us
and support us, and we know we are not isolated and
alone.
Scripture reminds us, “The joy of the Lord is my
strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). Writer Umberto Eco believes
that the sin against the Holy Spirit is to have no sense
of humor. Luther said during one of his table talks,
"Whenever the devil pesters you, at once seek out the
company of friends, drink more, joke and jest, or engage
in some form of merriment." His point was that
sociability and laughter help relieve the plagues of
evil and stress.
When we pray and ask God for help, we are also giving
ourselves time to reflect on our lives. This precious
space of time and thought can be of immeasurable value.
In Matthew 18:3, Jesus calls a child into the midst of
his circle of disciples and says, “Very truly I tell
you, unless you change and become like children, you
will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Being “like
children” means being open and trusting. Kids have a
playful spirit and appreciate and value in the simple
things in life.
One thing that has changed my life and helped me to see
this more clearly was joining an improv troupe. Improv
requires flexibility and openness; to be a good
improv-er you need to be present in the moment — much as
the Spirit of God asks us to be. I laugh with others and
at myself. I play and have fun. And I certainly do not
take myself too seriously.
Stress is a part of life, but we do have tools to manage
it. Keeping our spirits flexible and soft goes a long
way, so the next time it seems that the world is
spinning out of control and stress is fracturing your
life, take a deep breath, take a time out, and dive into
the renewing Spirit.
Dawn Hansen is an ELCA pastor and is the director for
programs, Women of the ELCA. To keep flexible, she
regularly performs and laughs with her improv troupe,
“The Autonomous Collective.”
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Faith Reflections
by the Rev. Sonja Hagander
The Old Testament doesn’t usually make the top ten list of
self-help books, and the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath is
not where most people would look for a way through their stress. But
the story takes place during a drought, and being stressed out is a
lot like living in a drought. So maybe there is something in this
story that can lead us toward refreshment in our stressful lives.
To set the stage: God has called Elijah to be a prophet. And God has
told Elijah to go to a place called Sidon.
Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, "Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have
commanded a widow there to feed you." So he set out and went to
Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there
gathering sticks; he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water
in a vessel, so that I may drink.” As she was going to bring it, he
called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” But
she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a
handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now
gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for
myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die." Elijah said to
her, “Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me
a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something
for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord
the God of Israel:
The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail
until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth.” She went and did
as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for
many days. The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil
fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.
1 Kings 17:8-16
Two details make this story a good one for us to reflect on as we seek
calm: the jar of flour and the jug of oil.
The widow of
Zarephath, let's call her Zap, is gathering firewood near her village
gates. She runs into Elijah, who asks for something to eat and to
drink. Poor Zap has no more than a little flour in a jar and a little
oil in a jug — just enough for one last meal for her and her son.
Elijah tells Zap, "The jar of flour will not be emptied and the jug of
oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the
earth.” (1 Kings 17: 14)
And the jar of
flour didn't run out and the jug of oil didn't run dry, for on her way
to prepare her last meal, Zap finds that in preparing another meal for
Elijah she is given enough flour and oil for many days.
I don't know about you, but this time of the year I find myself in
crunch time. I've got things to do and projects to finish. There are
challenges and opportunities galore. Maybe you too are feeling the
need to weed out your calendar, to circle the wagons and hoard your
resources of time and energy.
In the midst of
all of this, the blessing I pray for you is this: That you experience
the same surprising giftedness that Zap the widow of Zarephath
experienced. Zap went to bake her last biscuit and give it away to
Elijah, but was suddenly blessed with plenty of flour and oil for
dozens of biscuits.
I pray that as you
risk sharing the last of your flour and oil with someone else, you too
will be surprised that God gives you enough for tomorrow. I pray that
you trust God's promise to provide flour and oil enough that you go
out and share all that you have with someone in need.
There are Elijahs
in many places in our lives: Someone invites you to walk over to the
local church to help with the kids who gather there on Sunday
afternoons. You really don't have the energy, and there are dozens of
other things you'd rather do, like watching a movie, going to the mall
with your roommate, or getting something done on your to-do list. But
you go. You give away your flour and oil. And some-thing amazing
happens there: You get filled up. You get back more energy than you
give.
Maybe you get a
call from a friend whose mother has just been diagnosed with a serious
illness, and he needs to talk. You have a paper due the next day and a
test later in the week, but you listen to him anyway. And in the midst
of giving your last bit of flour and oil to him, you find that you
have enough for him, for the paper, and for the test.
My friends, as you
share your flour and oil, you will get more in return. For that is how
God works in the world, isn't it? God gives you enough and you give it
away, so the more of it you have. Christ gives you hope, and the more
of it you spread around, the more of it you have. God gives you love,
and you share it with others, so you
get back more love than
ever
before.
This month, when you have only a little flour left in your backpack
and just a smear of oil in the bottom of your Nalgene bottle, and
you're wondering if you're going to make it, you just may meet Elijah,
and he’ll ask you to make him a biscuit.
I pray that as you
share that last biscuit with Elijah, you will be surprised by joy at
the blessings of God given to you each day — which is enough. Amen.
The Rev. Sonja Hagander is the Associate College Pastor at Augsburg
College in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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When you and your friends, classmates, or co-workers meet to
discuss this issue of Café, try out the questions for
reflection on our new study
page.
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