What matters most to you? What core values undergird your daily choices? What gives meaning to your life? Give thanks for those very important people, places, events, experiences, and ideals. They counter the alarms that ring in your head and in our stressful world.
Keep a gratitude journal. Practice writing 3 things you observe or experience each day, that you are glad about. Anything that causes you to pause and appreciate, smile, laugh over, or delight in like a beautiful sunset or an affirming conversation.
"Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." Phil 4:8
Yes, we all experience stressors in our lives: the Covid-19 pandemic, disputed elections, holiday cautions, unemployment, illness, broken relationships... Perhaps jotting nightly in a stress journal would prove helpful as a first step in managing stress? What crisis, heartache, discord, need, or unsolved problem is weighing on you now? Will you release it to God who loves you unconditionally? He knows what to do. He is mighty to save. His timing is perfect.
