2024-06-08
Job 11:15 NLT
When you ignore the warning signs, chronic stress can take a toll on your body. So what are some of the signals? Well for starters, your stomach churns at any form of disagreement. When you can’t find an outlet for pent-up frustration, you resort to overeating, smoking, drinking, drugs, and generally abusing your body. You isolate yourself, which affects your loved ones. Debora M. Coty writes about what she terms the “Three Fs: outward fussing, inward fuming, and chronic fatigue.” She jokes, “I knew it was time to address my stress issues when my growl grew louder than the dogs, and my family tactfully suggested I get a rabies shot.”
However, it’s the signs you don’t see that can do the most damage. Cortisol, a hormone our bodies release in the grasp of stress, adds to out-of-control feelings of powerlessness and hopelessness. And studies verify that over time, stress raises your blood pressure, contributes to migraines and tension headaches, and results in the plaque that leads to heart disease. Chronic stress has been observed to increase cardiovascular risk by almost 50 percent! Not to mention documented connections to alcoholism, anxiety attacks, asthma, cancer, colds, depression, flu, insomnia, obesity, strokes, and ulcers. And those uncontrolled crying spells you encounter when you’re exhausted are no coincidence. Stress lowers estrogen levels, which can activate emotional outbursts.
If this describes you, take action! Rearrange your priorities, slow down, start taking control of your life, and turn to God. When you “prepare your heart and lift up your hands to him in prayer… You will be strong and free of fear” (vv. 13, 15 NLT).
Soul food: Eze 14:1-16:52; Mark 14:43-52; Ps 129; Prov 14:25-28
2024-06-07
Spreuke 15:31 NLV
Een kundige noem dat leiers eers jou hart aanraak, voor hulle vir jou hand vra. Dis die wet van verbinding. Voor ‘n leier iemand se hart kan aanraak, moet hy of sy eers weet wat daarin is. Jy kom dit agter deur te luister. ‘n Onwilligheid om te luister is tipies van swak leiers. Meer as die helfte van bestuursprobleme is as gevolg van foutiewe kommunikasie. Die oorgrote meerderheid van kommunikasieprobleme spruit daaruit dat mense nie goed genoeg luister nie. Baie stemme roep om ons aandag. Soos jy oorweeg hoe om te luister, onthou dat jy twee redes het om te luister: a) Om met mense te skakel, en b) Om meer van hulle te leer. Dit sluit jou mededingers in.
Sam Markewich het geskerts: ‘As jy nie met my saamstem nie, beteken dit jy het nie mooi geluister nie.’ Hy het natuurlik ‘n grap gemaak, maar die hartseer waarheid is dat wanneer ‘n leier ‘n ander organisasie slegs as mededinging beskou, fokus hy of sy hulle aandag daarop om hul eie onderneming te bou of hul eie doel te verdedig en vergeet gevolglik om uit die ander organisasie se pogings te leer. Jy wil nie noodwending jou aksies op dit wat die ander persoon doen, baseer nie, maar jy moet steeds luister en leer hoe om jouself te verbeter.
Dis ‘n duur fout om so besig te wees om jou eie ding te doen, of te probeer om dinge te laat gebeur, dat jy nie aandag gee aan dit wat rondom jou aangaan nie. Elke dag wat jy lewe en elke ervaring wat jy het, positief en negatief, kan vir jou waardevolle lesse leer. Jy moet egter luister!
Sielskos: Eseg 10-13; Mark 14:27-42; Ps 124; Spr 14:21-24
Proverbs 15:31 NKJV
One expert points out that leaders touch your heart before they ask for your hand. That’s the law of connection. Before a leader can touch a person’s heart, he or she has to know what’s in it. And you learn that by listening. A reluctance to listen is too typical among poor leaders. Over half of all management problems are the consequence of faulty communications. And the vast majority of communication problems stem from poor listening. Many voices are clamoring for our attention. As you think about how to listen, keep in mind that you have two reasons for listening: (a) To connect with people, and (b) To learn about them. That includes your competitors.
Sam Markewich quipped, “If you don’t agree with me, it means you haven’t been listening.” Though of course he was joking, the sad truth is that when a leader views another organization only as competition, he or she focuses attention on building their own case or championing their own objective and forgets to learn from the other group’s efforts.
Now, you don’t necessarily want to base your actions on what the other person is doing, but you should still listen and learn how to improve yourself. It’s a costly mistake to get so busy doing your own thing, or trying to make things happen, that you’re not paying attention to what’s going on around you. Every day you live and every experience you have, both negative and positive, can teach you valuable lessons. But you must listen!
Soul food: Eze 10-13; Mark 14:27-42; Ps 124; Prov 14:21-24
2024-06-06
Genesis 2:18 NLV
God het jou huweliksmaat ontwerp om aan jou fisiese, emosionele en ja, selfs jou geestelike behoeftes, te voldoen. Adam het perfekte gesondheid gehad, die perfekte werk gehad en in die perfekte omgewing gewoon. Hy het selfs elke dag saam met God gaan stap. Nietemin was hy eensaam en onvolledig. Dus het God gesê: ‘…Dis nie goed dat die mens alleen is nie. Ek sal vir hom ‘n metgesel maak…’
God het bedoel dat jou maat jou moet help groei en jou roeping moet help vervul. Daar is ‘n intieme fisiese, emosionele en geestelike band tussen julle. Niemand op aarde sal jou ooit beter as jou Godgegewe maat ken nie. Hy of sy moet jou naaste vriend, berader en vertroueling wees. Dit verg kommunikasie!
Goeie kommunikasie is daarop gebaseer om die regte vrae te vra en versigtig na die antwoorde te luister. Dit beteken dat jy die televisie, jou rekenaar, jou tablet en jou selfoon moet afsit. Dit beteken dat jy moet vra: ‘Hoe gaan dinge vandag met jou?’ en dan lank genoeg moet luister vir versteekte emosies om na die oppervlak te kom. Luister totdat jy jou eggenoot se bekommernisse, gevoelens, vrese, hoop en drome verstaan. Luister akkuraat, sodat jy sy of haar ware behoeftes kan asseseer – behoeftes wat jy die beste toegerus is om aan te voldoen.
Jou vrae openbaar jou vlak van omgee en die antwoorde wat jy kry kan die fondasie vir ‘n lang, gelukkige huwelik word. Dis presies wat God in gedagte gehad het toe Hy gesê het: ‘Dit verklaar waarom ‘n man van sy pa en ma weggaan, saam met sy vrou lewe en hulle dan soos een mens word’ (vers 24 NLV).
Sielskos: Eseg 5-9; Mark 14:12-26; Ps 4; Spr 14:17-20
Genesis 2:18 NIV
God designed your marriage partner to meet your physical needs, your emotional needs, and yes, even some of your spiritual needs. Adam enjoyed perfect health, worked at the perfect job, and lived in the perfect environment. He even went for walks with God every day. Nevertheless, he was lonely and incomplete. So God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Note the word “helper.”
God intended your partner to help you grow and fulfill your destiny. There is an intimate physical, emotional, and spiritual bond between you. No one on earth will ever know you better than your God-given mate. He or she should be your closest friend, counselor, and confidant. That calls for communication! And good communication is based on asking the right questions and listening carefully to the answers.
It calls for turning off the TV, your laptop, iPad, and cell phone. It means asking, “How are things with you today?” then listening long enough for hidden emotions to surface. Listen until you understand your spouse’s concerns, feelings, fears, hopes, and dreams. Listen accurately, so you can assess his or her real needs – needs you are best equipped to meet. Your questions reveal your level of caring, and the answers you get in return can become a foundation for a long, happy marriage. That’s exactly what God had in mind when he said, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one” (v. 24 NAS).
Soul food: Eze 5-9; Mark 14:12-26; Ps 4; Prov 14:17-20
