The Value of Stress

Once every year or so, especially if you are over fifty, we deliberately go into a medical centre and do a "stress test" in order to check our heart condition.

That is good because it will ensure that we don't have any blocked coronary arteries, and if we do, it will spur us on to take early or immediate remedial action.

These days we often hear about "stress tests" being applied even to financial institutions especially to the big banks of the world, a much needed health check I must say, to see whether in fact they too can survive the storms of the severe economic downturn which is sweeping across the globe today.

Indeed, despite technological progress, today's modern life has become very stressful. And as more and more people lose their jobs, family resilience is stretched and resources taxed to the limit.

By and large, governments of the world have not been very helpful and sadly people's hardships everywhere especially those of the poor and the marginalised continue to mount.

We need to come to terms with stress and manage it if we are to stay sane and healthy, otherwise the anxiety, discontentment and restlessness that flow from stress will slowly but surely eat our hearts out.

Look at it this way. Perhaps there is a positive side to stress. We probably need to go through the "heat" in order that we can come out of it stronger and wiser.

See, if the pressure is taken off a piece of coal, there will be no diamond. Removing the irritating grain of sand from an osyter's tummy means having no pearl.

Pressure, irritation, and pain may be the only tools to develop people into better human beings that no other way could possibly do.

Truly then, adversity is a great teacher.

The great motivator Napoleon Hill had this to say, "Every adversity carries the seed of an equivalent benefit."

Indeed, there is value /benefit in "Stress". But you'll have to look for it.

Surprisingly, did you know that "STRESSED" spelled backwards is actually "DESSERTS". Coincidence? I think not!

To those who are stressful, weary and burdened, my advice is do seek refuge in God Almighty. I recommend the reading of Psalm 34.

May you also find comfort, peace, and a measure of victory in this beautiful hymn entitled "Let Us Exalt His Name Together", the video-clip courtesy of Nathanoj76.