Article July 26, 1999 Issue

Disempowering stress

By Jason Sheppard Greer

As the world grows smaller, people's schedules constrict. Today's workplace seems more hectic than ever. Many find it natural that outside pressures lead to stress. But consider what happens to this outlook and one's reaction to it when one recognizes that there's really only one cause in the universe: God. To the degree that we live by divine law, that's the law that governs us.

This truth was driven home to me some months ago. I had work due the next morning. With only the afternoon and evening ahead, it seemed that I would barely have enough time. Then I received a phone call informing me of a commitment a few hours later. I was overtaken by anxiety.

At first I continued, distracted by vague worries about how I could possibly do everything. It was as though I had decided by default to plow ahead to the finish. But then I pondered this verse from Jeremiah: "I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end" (29:11). What hope these words contain. Think of the one omni-benevolent Father-Mother granting an expected outcome.

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