My Momma Said

Perhaps one of the most widely mimicked movies of recent years is “Forrest Gump.” Some of the most often used lines form the movies are those that begin “My momma always said.” Do you remember the one where his mother said, "There's an awful lot you can tell 'bout a person by their shoes, where they goin’ and where they been"? Forrest answers, "I've worn lots of shoes." Or there’s another when he says, "There is only so much fortune a man really needs, and the rest is for showin' off." However, the all time favorite must be when she says, "Life is like a box of chocolates, Forrest. You never know what you're gonna get." There is so much truth to that! Perhaps it is the unknown quality of tomorrow that so enslaves us to fear. Jesus spoke so clearly to that in the Sermon from the Mount.

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:25-34 ESV).

Some of us have become so accustomed to stress that we fail to recognize its real destructive potential. Stress helps us seem important. We rationalize that anyone as stressed as we are must be working very hard and therefore, are probably doing something very crucial. Well, this like so many of the devil’s lies eat away at our true sense of joy and our joy is erased in a flurry of busyness. Too much stress produces the following conditions. If you have any of these, perhaps you need to start practicing the art of only taking on today’s trouble.

1. Stress causes us to maintain personal distance and avoid intimacy. Stress also helps you keep your authoritarian management style. This is the authoritarian style of "just do what I say.” If you maintain a permanently stressed crisis atmosphere, you can justify an authoritarian style all of the time.
2. Stress causes us to avoid responsibilities. We are so tired, or so “busy” that we can’t do the ordinary and mundane chores of life.
3. Stress causes us to avoid success. Stress can keep your performance level low enough that success won't ever be a threat.

Practice a little “Forrest Gump.” Life really is a box of chocolates, and you can’t know what each one holds! So, rest in the hope of Christ and His unchanging love for you.