Maybe you have seen those little “tests” in magazines, newspapers or online called stress tests. They usually consist of questions or a list of events that you may be experiencing in life. Some of those scenarios include: have you recently married, or divorced; have you recently had an argument with your boss, or lost a job; have you recently had a new addition to your family; or lost someone close to you? The lists vary and contain many more events, but the conclusion is that the more of these events that you are experiencing the more likely you are to be suffering from stress.

Major life changes, even those that occur in a positive context, can stress us out, raising our blood pressure, giving us ulcers, and causing us sleepless nights. Many of these events are unavoidable and for the most part are things that we try to prepare for in some way or another. In one sense, these are stress producers that we expect and we simply try to cope as best as we can.

There is another group of stress producers though that I have never seen in any of these stress tests. These are perhaps more sinister than the “biggies” that show up in the “stress tests”.

In a recent conversation someone said, “You know, it is the little things that cause the most stress. You should write a Spark about that.” That isn’t a direct quote because I simply don’t remember word for word what was said, which causes me some stress, but that is the gist of it.

So I have come up with a “stress test” of my own. Each time you answer yes to a question or event give yourself one point.

1. Did you look in the mirror when you got up?
2. Did you go to work (or school) today?
3. Did you go shopping at Wal Mart today?
4. Did you honk your horn at the person in front of you who was too
    slow off the line at the traffic light (or stop sign)?
5. Did someone honk at you?
6. Did you mutter “idiot” under your breath (while driving or any other
    time)?
7. Did you wonder to yourself if the person behind the counter or at
    the checkout lane had completed third grade? (see #3)
8. Did your computer automatically download updates today?
9. Did you get any bills in the mail today?
10. Are you still waiting for someone to return your call?

Now it’s time to score yourself. 2 or less and you are pretty stress free. 3 to 5, a little stress but not too bad. 5 to 7, might want to check your blood pressure. 8 or more, stress is your middle name.

Forgive my feeble attempt at humor, but I hope you are at least having a little chuckle on the inside even if you haven’t laughed out loud. Laughter is a great stress reliever. But the real point here is that we do stress over many things that have little if any true significance. Patience and I have identified a few “everyday” occurrences that cause us stress, the most prevalent seems to be when relationships with other people, whether it be family, work or other areas, are in arrears.

It is amazing just how closely the words stress and rest resemble one another. Take the word rest, rearrange the letters and add an “s” and you have stress. When I look at the account of creation found in the book of Genesis I see something very interesting. On the sixth day, God’s final act was to create Adam. There was evening and morning, then God “rested”. Basically, God quit, He ceased creating, He was done. Adam’s first day after being created was a day of rest! A point that was brought to my attention in a book I just finished reading is that on every day of the preceding six days the Genesis account says, “The evening and the morning were the (first through sixth) day”, but on the seventh day there is no evening and morning stated. So I extrapolated that a little and have determined that man (Adam) was created to rest. I will confess that this is not a totally unique, “all my own” kind of thought. I have heard something similar from others, but sometimes I reach a point where something I’ve heard or read somewhere else finally takes hold and becomes “real”.

Man was created to “rest” with God, the key point there is with God. Man was given the opportunity to live in a state of rest or peace, essentially stress-free. But it seems that mankind is pretty good at rearranging the letters and adding an “s”. When you think about it, a lot of our stress is caused from our continual rearranging of things and adding things that don’t belong. 

I’m not naïve, I know that as long as I live on this earth there will be things that will cause me stress. Neither do I proclaim to have all the answers to life’s questions or stresses, but it seems to me that, at the risk of offending someone out there with my simplicity, God just wants us to hang out with Him and “rest”. Jesus said, "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me — watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." (from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)

So here is my “rest test”. Each time you answer yes give yourself one point.

1. Are you hanging out with God today?

Score yourself. Less than one, stop trying to rearrange “rest” and adding to it. If you scored a one, then do what you can, have a good laugh, and rest. 
 



Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time. 
     ~ J. Lubbock

Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.
    ~ Ovid

Stress is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of mental illness.
     ~ Richard Carlson

Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.
     ~ Will Rogers