The Hope Quotient by Ray Johnston

Author:Ray Johnston
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2014-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

Strangled by Stress

When we are overloaded, overcommitted, we lose. We lose joy, we lose confidence, we lose peace, we lose friendships, we endure life instead of enjoy life, we are grouchy, irritable, discouraged. We sacrifice family closeness, we end up less productive, and worst of all, we end up out of touch with God and everybody in our lives. In other words, we lose hope.

Dr. Richard Swenson would say we are out of “margin,” the title of his best-selling book.1 Margin is the space between your load and your limit. Most of us are loaded far beyond our limits. That means we have no margin in our lives. Swenson wrote:

The conditions of modern day living devour margin . . .

Marginless is being thirty minutes late to the doctor’s office because you were twenty minutes late getting out of the hairdresser, because you were ten minutes late dropping the children off at school, because the car ran out of gas two blocks from the gas station, and you forgot your purse. That’s marginless.

Margin, on the other hand, is having breath at the top of the staircase, money at the end of the month, and sanity left over after adolescence.

Marginless is the baby crying and the phone ringing at the same time. Margin is Grandma taking care of the baby for the afternoon.

Marginless is being asked to carry a load five pounds heavier than you can lift. Margin is having a friend to help carry half the burden.

Marginless is not having enough time to finish the book you’re reading on stress (don’t stop, keep going). Margin is having the time to read it twice.

Marginless is fatigue. Margin is energy.

Marginless is red ink. Margin is black ink.

Marginless is hurry. Margin is calm.

Marginless is our culture. Margin is counter-culture, having some space and life in your schedule.

Marginless is reality. Margin is remedy.

Marginless is the disease (of our decade).

Margin is the cure.2

The challenge of balancing our lives is getting worse—for you—for me—for everybody.

• Seventy-five to ninety percent of all doctor office visits are for stress-related ailments and complaints.3

• The most-stressed employees develop heart problems at a 79 percent higher rate than their less-stressed peers.4

• Stress is the most common cause of long-term sickness absence for employees.5

• Forty-three percent of Americans between the ages of thirteen and sixty-four say they rarely or never get a good night’s sleep on weeknights.6

• About two-thirds (63 percent) of Americans say their sleep needs are not being met during the week.7

More than at any time in history, we are chronically rushed, habitually late, regularly exhausted, continually pressured, desperately overloaded, totally overwhelmed, and vastly overcommitted. Do you know even one overcommitted, frantic, rushed, hurried, stressed-out person who enjoys high levels of hope? I don’t either. We ought to have warning labels affixed to our foreheads: “Warning! Contents under pressure! Extreme danger of explosion!”

Two years ago, a thought hit me that resonated not only with me but with a group of pastors who were complaining about burnout. I had one of the major aha! moments of my life with them.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.