Feeling Stress and Not Blessed?
Now and again, folks we just need a little light hearted look at stress. We all feel it – whether it is self inflicted or thrusted upon us. But taking a different perspective can often soften our mood. So here goes.
From Thanksgiving through New Year, we make lists, we plan, we decorate and try to execute all of it with a graceful, calm attitude, right?
Oh, I try. And I have excellent organizational and time management skills. But quite frankly, this is the season I should hold on to my religion and yet I seem to lose it just trying to decorate the collectable Star Trek tree! Balancing gift shopping, Christmas card writing, invitations to celebrate, special events, baking, Christmas Eve and Day meals while balancing health and wellness; I often get to the boiling point.
Recently, I attended a craft fair and a lady was selling handmade gnomes. For you friends that know me, I have “a thing” for gnomes. I have at least one gnome in every main room in our home. But these gnomes were different. They had soft chenille beards. The lady that makes them sells many to autistic children, assisted living and rehab centers and anyone that could use a gnome to settle their spirit.
Sounds funny to use a small earth-dwelling guardian of nature who brings good luck and keeps evil away to settle one’s spirit but I knew I needed to have one because there was evil in my spirit! And that’s how “Red” came to live with me.
I have been stroking “Red’s” beard a lot this last week. I move him wherever I think I might need him. He is sitting on my desk right now! Often, he sits with me and my bible in the morning as I do my devotions. Or I will call a “time out”, grab a cup of coffee or tea and settle on the patio with our dog, Liesl and “Red” and just marvel at the beauty of the nature preserve in our back yard.
It’s amazing when you make a conscious effort to surround yourself with the things that can help you master the craziness of the season (like devotional time, time outs and a visit with “Red”, how your attitude begins to shift from “peel me off the ceiling” to “all will be well”.
It’s as if he calmly saying “Feeling frustrated, tense? Had a bad day? Come sit a spell with me. I am a therapy gnome. Sit and touch my soft, long beard. Crinkle it, fondle it, brush it and feel the tension disappear”.
And with my bible and devotions and “Red” beside me, I can hear God whisper “Rest my child. I’ve got this.”
May you take time out to see the blessings through the stressings of the season.