One of the striking things about the job of being a parish priest is how much the level of stress ebbs and flows day to day. One day I'll be relaxed and feeling great about life and ministry and then the next I'm feeling overwhelmed and even rude. Yet the stress is a king of gift that has wisdom to offer me if I could just sit with it and listen.
Doing that now... The stress isn't actually interested in whether I complete this project or have that difficult conversation. The stress is interested in whether I notice how my shoulders feel heavy and the back of my neck has a weird tingling. What's that about? Why is stress such a physical, bodily thing? hmmm.
I have a lot of candles in my office--I light them at times like this. Not to reduce stress, but to invite God to be with me in the stress. The stress is my friend. A weird friend, the sort of friend that makes me feel awkward--but a friend who faithfully comes to visit, still.
Stress....
-t
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