Faith in the News Christian News
Here are 5 Christian tips to have more joy and less stress in 2015:
Do the Hard Stuff First
When I was working my way through college, I tried to always do the most difficult thing first and then work my way down through to the simplest. In this way, you can tackle the hardest things first when you have the most energy and time and then the easier things will not be as difficult. If you do the easiest things in your day or week first, your day or week will grow increasingly difficult and that creates higher levels of stress and frustration.
De-Clutter Your Life
I have way more stuff than I need so I decided to give much of it away. The general rule is that if you have something in your closet or in your dresser drawers that you haven’t worn for over a year, get rid of it, because you’ll likely never wear it again. Why not give it away and the Salvation Army is one of the best places to do this. They have the cheapest prices for those who don’t have much money. Or have a garage sale and give the money to the Salvation Army. Use the same concept for stuff in your garage and/or storage buildings.
Learn to Say No
I get so many requests from people that I used to find little time for my family or Bible study so a few years ago I learned the important discipline of just saying no! When you say no to too many other demands, you say yes to more family time and more time with God. Life is full of choices. Learn how to say no because too many “yes’s” can create a lot of stress by go, go, and going!
Turn off the TV
I know of one pastor who goes on a media fast. He started with one day…then since he liked it so much, he did 3 days in a row. The next time he chose a full week of abstaining from the media. This meant no television and no Internet. Sounds hard doesn’t it? Unfortunately for me, I can’t fast from the Internet since I am a writer but it does feel good to just turn off the chatter box and sit down and read my Bible. It’s amazing how much time you’ll have if you just nix the TV and Internet for a day or more. Silence is golden.
Delegate or Get Help
How often do we muddle through things in life without ever seeking or asking for help? I have learned to delegate out much of what I used to do all by myself and the joyful thing about doing this is that others were more than willing to help out. I tried to do a nursing home ministry all by myself and I made a signup sheet for others to help in the times that I couldn’t do it. I wished I had simply went up to them and asked them face to face about whether they wanted to help. It’s not a sign of weakness to ask for help or to delegate but a sign of strength, in my opinion.
May God richly bless you,
Pastor Jack Wellman
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Image source: Kim
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