Stay the Course

As people who know me will attest, one thing I am very good at is nagging. It’s a skill that been finely crafted down through the years. I mention this because what I am getting ready to write could across as nagging because I have mentioned it so frequently over the past weeks. It is an encouragement to stay in the battle. Take good care of yourselves. As time has passed, it is easy to become weary about this whole situation. For example, I find myself being tempted to not wash my hands as much or slip into this store or that store without a mask, etc. I don’t know what precautions you are taking, but don’t stop. We need to complete the race. We need to “relax” without being “lax” and that’s no easy task. So the question becomes “how do we do that?” Should we just keep plodding onward? That type of discipline might be a part of it, but I would like to suggest something much more meaningful.

stress and anxietyJoe ScruggsApril 29, 2020stress, relax, persist

The Messy Middle

As a general rule the majority of us don’t like “messy”. Some of us can tolerate it better than others, but overall even those in that category eventually need some clarity. This is difficult because much of normal life is lived in what I call the “messy middle”. That is, In many situations, we simply do not have clear cut, black white, yes-no types of options. We are all in some sort of messy combination. We do some things well and some things not so well. Some things we do are healthy and some aren’t. Some of our behaviors and thoughts are Godly and some aren’t. Paul talked about this on a very personal level in Romans 7 when he said something to the effect that he found himself doing some things he didn’t want to do and not doing some things he wanted to do. It was “messy”, not clear cut. He found it very distressing and described it by saying “what a wretched man I am”.

stress and anxietyJoe ScruggsApril 22, 2020stress, anxiety, messy

Thoughts for a Difficult Season

One of the great understatements of the day is that we are living in a very troublesome time. There are dilemmas everywhere—medical dilemmas, financial dilemmas, social struggles, political polarization, etc. For many of us, it is a season of significant emotional stress and worry. Also, some of us may be struggling with anxiety related issues. I describe anxiety as “worry on steroids”. It’s tough. With that in mind, here are some thoughts about dealing with anxiety. This is not an exhaustive list (we will be communicating more about this as we go through this season). Hopefully, it can serve as a starter kit for those of us who are struggling.