Why all the Pressure?

It's been said I put a lot of pressure on myself,  Generally speaking, I agree.  When the pressure's on, I function as if some catastrophic consequence is looming if I don't...what?  Show up on time? Clean my kitchen before I go to bed? Rigorously exercise? Say the right things?Be completely cool and cavalier under all this pressure?

Who is it that makes these demands of me? Who gets inside my head and says, I must be so disappointing to you - "you" being the nonexistent yet ever present observer of my life?

Here's where it hovers on a grander scale...

Due to the influx of constant correspondence (via text), and constant comparison (via all the rest of it), my definition of "life-long" friends has changed and become somewhat skewed.  When I'm in the company of friends who get regular texts from their other friends while we're together, I begin to feel one-dimensional.  Like, apparently I am not needed elsewhere. Truth is, I don't have friends I text daily (or even weekly), so I question if I qualify as life-long, since I'm not on anyone's most recents list.  And I can't even talk about how sad I get that I don't have girls I go on trips with... I mean, (via my social connections), doesn't everyone?

The pressure whispers, 'do I matter?'

Another area the pressure has me hamstrung is security.  It seems I should have had the good sense to project manage my home, make wise investments, and blaze through half my bucket list by now.  Oh, and buy health insurance I can actually use.  Knowing how abysmal my attempts at these have been, I muddle along, perceiving some unseen others as victors in life because they navigated the big stuff successfully and have the spoils to show for it.

The pressure whispers, 'my best years have been lost.'

Then there's the whole productivity/purpose thing.  I can waste hours (translation: days), sitting on a couch strategizing how to best execute my Next Big Thing, while supposedly everyone else is living their purpose driven life.  They're following their hearts and running their races, regardless of impediments.  Meanwhile, I feel trapped by the nothingness.  How did the stay their course, find their stride and realize their dreams?

The pressure whispers, 'why am I so incapable, so lame?'

This is the pressure I speak of.  Some may say, the lies I listen to.  When I'm in my right mind, having a good day, meaningful encounter, or simply taking a walk, I know these things aren't true.

We all struggle to find lasting friendship - to not be let down when "life-long" and "day to day" don't equate, and can logically grasp those are two very different concepts.  (and PS - traveling is expensive and more a function of socio-economics than it is friendship.)

No one feels completely secure.  Who could?  Life is crazy.  Those appearing more peaceful are those who place their trust in God, or, because they happen to be doing fairly well at the moment, themselves.  (But self is a very precarious trust-holder.)

Here's a little secret:  every speaker/writer/dream-maker desperately hopes that what they're saying/writing/doing matters to someone, somewhere.  (And lest we fail to acknowledge, words are forever stored in that elusive "cloud" so perhaps the fewer attached to our name, the better.)

It's time to take the pressure off.

This is yet another reason I have been enamored with the humanity of Christ.  When I recall, "he was tempted in every way as I was, yet without sin", I forget he had people following him around all day long, every day, for at least three years.  I forget he had an actual audience.

Talk about pressure.

Given he was exposed to similar struggles as I, He must have wondered if his life-long friends would be there for him in his day to day; wondered if he'd managed each sacred moment completely; wondered if he was making an earthly difference.

That doesn't make him less God, but more human - and he was fully both.

His life was lived in perfect balance; the ideal blend of friendship and solitude, intention and interruption, purpose without the striving.

And then, the sweet exchange:  His life well lived, for mine.

Christ in me, the hope of glory, silenced the audience.

So why all the pressure?

~elizabeth (Liz) d.

Memorize-It Monday

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.  ~Philippians 1:6

Memorize-It Monday

Philippians 2:1-5 (NIV)

Imitating Christ’s Humility
 1 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Memorize-It Monday

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
They cannot be numbered!
I can't even count them;
They outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
You are still with me!

~Psalm 139:17-18

Memorize-It Monday

Isaiah 53:5 - But he was pierced for our transgressions, 
   he was crushed for our iniquities; 
the punishment that brought us peace was on him, 
   and by his wounds we are healed.
John 1:29 - The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

Luke 3:4-6 - As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:

   “A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
   make straight paths for him.
Every valley shall be filled in,
   every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
   the rough ways smooth.
And all people will see God’s salvation.’”

Memorize-It Monday

For as a young man marries his virgin bride, so your Maker marries you, and as a bridegroom is happy in his bride, so your God is happy with you.  Isaiah 62:5

Memorize-It Monday

10 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.
11...If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.
~1 Peter 4:11

Memorize-It Monday

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.  ~1 Corinthians 15:58

Memorize-It Monday

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” ~Ephesians 5:31

Memorize-It Monday

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Roman 8:38-39

Memorize-It Monday

Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.   Psalm 37:4

Memorize-It Monday

New Living Translation 2007 
“Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.”  I John 4:8


Why this verse?  This verse can be called upon when you begin to experience fear or anxiety.  It turns the mind to think about how much God loves us and gave his son Jesus life for us. We were created by a God of love not a God of punishment.  Sometimes it feels like punishment when life is difficult and hurtful. It is in those times we need to call out to God and pray back the scriptures that direct you to who God really is. 

Memorize-It Monday

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
~Hebrews 10:25

Memorize-It Monday

Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
~Isaiah 58: 6,9

Memorize-It Monday

Don't be afraid, for I am with you.
Don't be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.
~Isaiah 41:10

Memorize-It Monday

For we are all God’s masterpiece.

~Ephesians 2:10

Memorize-It Monday

Matt 6:33-34 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Memorize-It Monday

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
~Isaiah 9:6

Memorize-It Monday

To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. ~2 Thessalonians 2:14-15

Memorize-It Monday

Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--His good, pleasing and perfect will.