Feel free to browse the archives here. (May I recommend the poetry?) Or just come back next month. I’m pulling back from this blog, twitter, facebook, and other social media to get my head on straight.

Special thanks to Tall Skinny Kiwi for inspiring me to take the leap.

Since HighCallingBlogs.com is part of my day job, I will still be posting there–book reviews and other things.

HighCallingBlogs.com and Robert Hruzek of MiddleZoneMusings.com are joining forces again to talk about what we’ve learned from stress. (The project is still open, just visit that link if you want to participate.)

Here’s what I’ve learned. I’m totally stressed out right now. Maybe there’s a lesson on the other side–at least that’s my hope.

Doing Too Much Causes Stress

And maybe you’re like me. You can see midlife coming, so you try to cram in all of your big dreams while you can. Write a novel about zombies. Write more and more poetry and submit it for rejection from your favorite lit mags. Write blogs and comments and social media stuff. Write another series of skits for my church.

And forget about what people want to read. I mean, who cares about the reader, right?

And forget about why I’m writing at all.

And forget about who I’m writing for and working for–the big editor in the sky.

Hang in there with me on this next part. It comes back around to stress.

Stress Causes Self Doubt

My pastor and I talked about some skits I wrote last night for a church event next month. He was wondering if the production we had planned was right for the church. I’ve wondered that myself. Some people have said, “God told me to be part of this production.” It’s hard to argue with statements like that.

And I asked him if that kind of comment made sense to him. “I don’t know about you,” I said, “but God doesn’t tell me stuff like that.”

This is a recurring puzzlement for me. Lots of Christians hear from God, and I don’t know what they mean when they say, “God spoke to me.” Too often, I don’t feel like God speaks to me at all. I mean, I have a Bible. I hear from Christian friends and pastors. But there aren’t any burning bushes in my backyard. There’s no handwriting on my wall. God and I don’t wrestle in the wilderness.

These are the kinds of thoughts and doubts I have when I’m totally stressed, you see.

Stress Makes Me Impatient

So this morning, I figured I should stop writing, writing, writing (and here I am writing) and spend some time in study. We’re teaching the seventh and eighth graders Experiencing God right now at our church, so I opened up the book and read yesterday’s lesson a day late.

Here is this week’s memory verse: “He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”

Ouch.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t hear these words of Jesus from John as some kind of condemnation that I do not belong to God. But rather that I need to stop doubting that I hear from God just because I’m stressed out. Instead, when I’m stressed out, I need to get to the root of my stress.

Doing Too Much Causes Stress

What? I already used that subheadline? Well, read it again. It’s important. Toward the end of this morning’s lesson, I underlined this sentence, “Don’t try to skip over the relationship to get on with doing.”

Ouch again.

When I skip relationships in order to do more stuff, geuss where that leads? Stress.

What have I learned from stress?

Slow down.

Do less.

Wait.

Listen.

Stop and smell the relationships.