A Calm And Stress Free Life?!?

She stood behind me talking on the phone. I'm sure she didn't mean to be talking so loudly but still I heard every word of her part of the conversation. “You know I can't handle any stress. I need for my life to be calm.” All I could think of were the words of Job 5:7 “Yet man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward”

Not long ago I was asked to speak at a church, the topic they gave me to speak on was “How to keep your balance in an unbalanced world.” I smiled when I heard what they wanted me to speak about not because I'm so totally balanced but because I so desperately want to be. Like the young woman on the phone I too would like to proclaim, “You know I can't handle any stress. I need for my life to be calm.”

I read in 1 Peter 3:4 that a gentle and quiet spirit is precious in the sight of God. I think having this kind of spirit might be the answer to the question about how to have a balanced life. Now I have to ask myself, “How do I develop a gentle and quiet spirit?” The fact that life is both stressful and lacking in calm is not conducive to gentleness or quietness.

What does “quiet” mean anyway? I did a little research and found words like tranquil and still. I am not by nature tranquil or still and my life is full of stress, so how can someone like me living the life I'm living develop this quiet spirit? In my mind's eye I saw a pastoral setting and thought about the words to the twenty third Psalm, “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.” Sheep are animals of prey and because of this they are very fearful. They have real enemies and the only way they can be at rest, tranquil or quiet is to have a good shepherd. Only when they have a relationship with the shepherd can they lie down, rest, drink at the still waters, and find their soul restored.

Lord Jesus, my world is not balanced. I often find myself stressed out and fearful but in You I find peace. You are my balance, You are my tranquility, You are my resting place. You are my shepherd.