Have you heard the saying “too blessed to be stressed?” If you walk into Mardel’s you are guaranteed to find it on a mug, sign, or notebook somewhere tucked in the corner.
For a lot of us that is where the blessings have stayed…tucked in the corner. We often forget about the blessings of life and toss it over in the corner while we place stress front and center. We often joke as parents about how our kids are causing us to tear our hair out and quicken the grays. Guilty. How often do we remind ourselves of the blessings of parenthood?
Don’t forget that the blessings are to be celebrated and remembered (Esther 9:21-22, Nehemiah 8:10-12). Celebrating brings God glory. Recognizing the gifts God has blessed us with stirs up in us the fruit of joy. Stress will tempt us consistently, especially if we keep looking forward to tomorrow, worrying about what could be instead of focusing on what is right now (Matthew 6:34).
When we are stressed we tend to blaze through our tasks as fast as possible to check it off the list so we can finally rest. What would our days look like if we paused and prayed for God to help us slow down to soak in the blessings happening right now in the mess? Are we waiting to enjoy life after our tasks, or are we enjoying the blessing of the task? I bet if we paused more in our day to bring in Jesus, the stress would be pushed out and the joy would be invited in.
I have tested this in my own life. When I was pressing forward on my own time I didn’t produce much fruit or see many blessings around me. Convicted, I started pausing my day to invite Jesus into my tasks and asking Him to show me the blessings that I have failed to notice. What I saw developing through the pause was the quality fruit of joy that I need to be able to shine His light. So when I feel stress knocking at the door I pause and ask Jesus to come in. He opens the door and tells my stress to leave and invites joy in. He reminds me to embrace the warm blessings of joy and quit opening the door to stress.
What are you inviting into your day? What are you celebrating in your life? Is stress allowed in or are you welcoming peace and celebrating your blessings with joy? Treasure Him as you go!
Prayer: Father God, help me invite joy and blessing in as I pause my day to include you in everything I do. Help me focus on the important over the urgent. When stress knocks at the door don’t let me give in to the temptation to open the door. Make my day fruitful and meaningful. Help me remember and celebrate the blessings you have gifted me with. I treasure you, my Heavenly Father! It’s in your precious Son’s name, Jesus, that I pray. Amen!