Calvary Episcopal Church
Memphis, Tennessee
THE CHRONICLE
March 14, 2004
Vol. 49, No. 11

Good Stress
The following quotation comes from the Very Rev. John Ross, Dean of St. John’s
Cathedral, Knoxville, TN.

Dr. Hans Selye, an historian/psychologist/socialogist wrote an
important book in the late 50’s titled The Stress of Life. In the book he made a distinction between the kinds of stress we experience in our life: the first he called distress. We all know too much about that category: too much to do, too little time; fast food, poor diets; the need for intimacy, barely enough time to say goodbye and hello. Selye also identified what he termed eustress (eu=good). These are the stresses of life which help us grow, expand our horizons, and be engaged with life: the birth of a child; getting married; a hard job which doesn’t simply tear us down, but also leaves us with that feeling of a “job well done.”

Another writer, the Rev. John Sanford in his book The Sayings of Jesus points out that an active Christian lives with a certain stress and anxiety by virtue of that vocation:

Anxiety is inevitable for those who enter into the kingdom. There is of course such a thing as sick anxiety, the sign of pathologically disturbed personality. But there is also divine anxiety, the anxiety which is inevitable because entering the kingdom calls for the individual to differentiate himself from the group, accepting the consequences and responsibilities of choice.

It is an anxiety which comes from being able to choose the road less traveled, the ethic harder to fulfill, the life harder to reconcile with the world. The bottom line: being a Christian can be stressful. It sounds like a warning from the surgeon general.

Here in mid-Lent, with spring ready to burst forth, I believe that faith can be eustress. What better life than one lived in Christ? To quote an old hymn, “Blessed Assurance Jesus is Mine.” Maybe some of the stress too is the struggle with the imperfection of our faith.

May God bless us on our journey.
George Yandell

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