Lily Tomlin is a famous comedian, actress, writer, and singer. She once said, “The chief cause of stress is reality.” True words. I think about somebody else who said, “If I knew what I was so anxious about, I would not be so anxious.”
We sure live in a day and time of stress. COVID-19 only accelerates this. Recovering from two hurricanes compounds it. Stress is all around us. We find ourselves hurrying down a busy street to go to Walmart or Target. Once we are there, we almost get run over in the shopping aisle by the person behind us who is in a hurry to do his shopping.
We are sometimes like the white rabbit in Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” who is in such a hurry and says, “Oh dear, oh dear, I shall be too late!”
We know that it is bad for us, but stress and anxiety seem to be always present in our lives.
Jesus talked about worry and stress in a very clear way. He said: “Do not be worried and upset. Believe in God and believe also in me.” (John 14:1) Jesus said, “Don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34)
Lily Tomlin has another good quote that we should think about: “For fast acting relief, try slowing down!” Pretty good advice for us today.