Discovering the Real Problem

Memory Verse Plus a Super Cool Graphic That I Really Dig

So I'm doing this online Bible study, Stressed-Less Living.  (wanna read my post about it?  Here it is!)

I just finished chapter one.

And you know the best thing to do after you read a chapter of a study book?

Write about it, of course.

Ok, chapter one.  Give it to me!

It's called: Discovering the Real Problem

Uh huh.

Got that right.

This book is not helping me discover the Real Problem.  Because I already discovered it.  And where did I discover it?

Psychotherapy.

(hmmmm . . . curious?  Read my therapy post here.  Or, just wait for it.  It's right below this post, conveniently.)

That's one major theme I was thinking about as I read this chapter.  Hey.  Maybe a book can do it for you.  But if you really want to dig...  If you really want to discover what the Real Problem is...  If you really want to do the hard work of diving deep, uncovering layers, and figuring some major stuff out -- I think therapy is an amazing tool.

The things I've learned in therapy, I never would have discovered just by reading this book.

Just sayin'.


So, on to the topic at hand . . . stress.

Or should I say: STRESS!!!

(three exclamation points ought to do it, don't you think?)

"You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope.  With less of you there is more of God and his rule."   --Matthew 5:3, The Message

I like that image . . . dangling at the end of a very frayed, very worn rope.  Waiting to drop.

I've always compared life to standing on the edge of a cliff.  There we stand.  Toes gripping the edge.  Do we dare jump?  Do we dare trust?  And then in a moment of insanity or brilliance, we jump.  Do we flounder when we jump?  Scared of what will happen when we land?  Or do we trust . . . do we throw our head back . . . throw our arms out . . . and Swan Dive.  We land in God's ever-present hands -- whether we're flailing or gliding.

I like how the author quotes Matt Damon's character, Benjamin Mee, in the movie We Bought a Zoo: "You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage, just literally twenty seconds of embarrassing bravery.  And I promise you, something great will come of it."

"Change has to begin with ourselves, and that takes courage."*

Yup.

Great courage.

Ready or not, here I come.


*Stressed-Less Living by Tracie Miles.  Quote from page 36.


P.S. I like Bible memory verses.  The one at the top of this post is this week's.  I have it taped to my bathroom mirror, to the window above my kitchen sink, and as a bookmark.  I memorized it the first day, but when I see my little memory cards, I remember that I've memorized it.  It's a good verse.  Try it out.