Stress, Physical Overload, and Spirituality

Today is the day after Thanksgiving.  It is also the 11th day since my body had its adrenaline let-down after the birth of the baby.  That do I mean?

Two Monday's ago, my physical body completely crashed.  After six month marked by moving, getting my children adjusted to a new place and new school, assisting my wife through a long and difficult pregnancy, being concerned for the health of our coming baby, and then finally the joy of having a healthy baby girl, a healthy mom, and release from my burdens, I hit the wall.

Even as I write, I am sure some "spiritual" person will say, "Don't you know that you should pray about all these things and give them to the Lord."  Of course I know this.  Of course I did.  Over and over I prayed for and through all of these stresses.  In fact, I did not feel that stressed as I moved through many truly stressful events.  

Yet, stress and fatigue were quietly waiting for me.

Why?  We live in a fallen world and I am a fallen man.  Our bodies feel the effects of stress even if our wills seek to hold its effects at bay.  Eventually, the piper must be paid!

Here is where I found myself last Monday.  So tired.  So weary in body, emotions, and spirit.  I needed rest!  Thankfully I have received this rest.  In fact, today is the first day since then that I awoke early, before the baby, and felt like praying!  I might be coming out of the tunnel!

Today I wrote in my journal for the first time since right after the baby was born.  Today I felt like praying and speaking with the Lord.  Today my physical body does not ache.

All of these symptoms come from not getting enough sleep.  As I sleep more, as I get back to regular exercise and health eating, as I create some space to get away in quiet, I am feeling restored.

I am constantly amazed at the connection between my physical health and my spiritual condition.  I wonder how many people do not have an active and healthy spiritual life because they do not have a healthy and balanced physical life?

Today I wish to repost and share some thoughts concerning stress, margin, and spiritual vitality as shared by Richard Swenson.  I have found them true in my life.  I wonder if they might help you?

"As a result, like in modern-day America is essentially devoid of time and space.  Not the Star Trek kind- the sanity kind.  Overload is the new normal.  We have too many choices and decisions, too many activities and commitments, too much change creating too much stress.  We have too much speed and hurry.  We have too much technology, complexity, traffic, information, possessions, debt, expectations, advertisements, and media.  And we have too little margin.

But if overload is the disease, then margin is the antidote.  To balance today's lifestyles, restoring our margin is a needed first step.  The vast majority of us are healthier if we draw a line somewhere short of overload, i.e., if we preserve some margin."

In Search of Balance, 90-91.

So how do we know if we struggle with not keeping margin in our life?  I find it is always easier to see how others struggle with this concept than it is to see it in ourselves!  Swenson gives us a great test to help us gain an accurate diagnosis.

"When our margin is depleted and our reserves are gone, we shift emphasis.  Instead of being compassionate and caring in our attitude, we become apathetic or rude.  Instead of being outwardly focused in our service, we become self-protective.  Instead of pursuing innovation and productivity in our job, we become irritable and fatigued." (91)

I know at times in my life, I have really struggled maintaining proper margin.  In my life, one of the big causes of my lack of margin was my health.  For years, I struggled with a gluten allergy that I just did not know about.  In the past five years, it got so much worse!  The result was that my physical strength was limited because I was poisoning my body with the food I ate.  I tried to eat well, but what is good for others (whole wheat grains!) was death to me.

I share this because many people confuse how their spirituality works.  As humans in a fallen world, we are so interconnected between our physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional dimensions.  I meet so many who struggle with their faith, but I think the reason for this struggle is a physical, mental, or emotional problem.  In my case, the physical issue robbed me of margin and left me without the energy to engage as I would wish.  No amount of spiritual, mental or emotional fixing was going to change my physical problem!

So, as we pursue margin in our lives and as we seek a deeper walk with God, check your physical, mental and emotional resources!  If you struggle with depression for chemical reasons, seek to fix the physical problem.  If you have emotional scars from past abuse, find a pastor or counselor to help you work through these emotional and mental bottlenecks!  Having issues in any area of life is not a sign of inability or laziness or lack of spiritual depth.  It is a mark of living in a fallen world.

I will conclude with Swenson's world about regaining margin.

"Margin, rightly conceived, is not about laziness, mediocrity, and noninvolvement.  It is about focus, discipline, and self-control.  But mostly is it a prioritizing space where we concentrate on the things that matter most (balance!).

Restoring margin to overloaded lives is possible if we are willing to think creatively, live differently, act intentionally, and stop following the crowds to the malls.  Hundreds of practical margin suggestions have been written elsewhere to assist in such a lifestyle direction.  But the first step, as always, resides within each human heart."
(93-94)

Pray for the grace to see if you need to regain margin.  Pray for the grace to see what is robbing you of your margin.  May the Lord bless you as you regain capacity to love others well!