...stress

"A relaxed attitude lengthens a man's life."Proverbs 14:30

I remember reading about a small bridge in a rural area. Its load limit was ten tons. It served its community very well for thirty years until a twelve-ton truck tried to cross it. The added stress was beyond the bridge's capacity—it collapsed under the extra load.

We're all like that. Each of us has a limit as to how much stress we can handle before we break. It is well documented that too much stress is a killer. Thus we need to know just how much we can handle and learn to limit the load we carry.

However, even though my load limit may be "ten or fifteen tons," if I'm not flexible and able to bend with the winds of adversity and learn how to go with the flow of life's circumstances, I may collapse well below my load limit.

Furthermore, as the Bible taught three thousand years ago, we also need to learn how to have a relaxed attitude in the midst of stressful and pressured situations.

While it isn't easy, in a nutshell we need to limit the load we attempt to carry, eat right, exercise regularly, work hard but take time to relax, laugh a lot, cry when we are sad, never bottle up negative emotions but learn to express them in healthy ways. And above all, we need to learn to commit and trust our life to God every day!

-dick innes