Back to School Stress

It's back. So who is stressed? Everyone is. Why is that? Anticipation. Of course, I am talking about school, and there is plenty of stress to go around. For students stressors include: "Who will my friends be? Why do I have to take Math? I can't believe I got the hardest Physics teacher! Will I measure up, and will they approve of the way I look, act and talk?"

For mom you can include a lot of the above and add, " Will my kid to his homework without a nightly war? Will I have to pack lunch every morning? How will we manage the carpool?"

What about Dads? Oh yes, you do stress underneath that cool exterior. "Will my kid have good enough grades to get the HOPE? Do we have to pay for all those extracurricular activities? Can the homework get done before I get home from work because I want to relax, and why can't we just have a schedule and stick to it?"

Of course dads, like me, have to add the obligatory "When I was a boy, I walked to school both ways with cardboard shoes; why can't we have a little focus here at the beginning of the school year?"

Stress - it is here. Now we don't want to give you any simple "Christian" stress buster answers like, "Have a family devotion each day," "The family that prays together does better on the SAT" or "This too shall pass."

However, we do want to offer you some hope. Stress is part of the human condition. Fear of negative things happening is not unusual. You are real and human if you have stress. Do you know part of the reason that you do have anticipatory stress?

Those bad things sometimes do happen!

Students, you probably won't be liked by some. The carpool will get messed up. The homework won't be done. It will be hectic. That is life.

Does it help to know that bad things will happen? Maybe not.

By the way, some unexpected good things might happen too. You will get the right locker; someone else will offer to carpool, and homework might get done occasionally before dad gets home.

So how do you move forward knowing your "anticipatory stress" will be proved right?

Move forward knowing He wants to be prepared to look to Him when those "bad" things happen and praise Him in the middle of the storm. In order to do that, you need to prepare. Prepare to look for comfort that can only come from Him and prepare to be a comforter to others for His namesake. In order that you will need to call on him. He is the One who prepares the way.

So what about the stress!!?! It came to nudge your soul to worship the God of peace.

Blessings.