We give many reasons for not making God a priority in our lives. But most of them seem like things we can’t control. We are almost fatalistic about our self-absorption. But in reality, we are able to choose whether to focus on Christ or on ourselves. And our self-focus leads to worry and stress as we try to manage our lives and live them out under our control.

This really hit home to me when I was reading chapter 2 of Crazy Love. On pg. 42, Francis says “Both worry and stress reek of arrogance.” I had never thought of it that way. I had always seen worry and stress as signs of weakness and lack of trust, but to think that I am arrogantly holding on to my agenda and pushing God out of the way. Wow. What an indictment on my sin nature and my unwillingness to trust every day to Christ.

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Our house was a bit crazy the past couple of weeks. Actually, stressful is a better word to describe it. Everyone was in an eternal irritable state – even the dogs. The kids were fighting, Mark and I were barking at each other and the dogs – well they seemed irked over the lack of a walk and went in the backyard and chewed up part of the playset! (Oh yeah, mama wasn’t happy!)

I made numerous attempts to end it – I put the kids to bed earlier, slipped the dogs some extra treats and made heartier meals to keep Mark from being hungry – but the irritation continued. I couldn’t put my finger on it. Why were we all lacking peace?

One day, my 8-year-old daughter and I were in the car when she snapped at me about something I did that bothered her (I think yawned or something – it was pretty annoying.

College football is on, summer is gone and the kids have been back in school for over a month. Order has returned to our household. Leisure days have been replaced with schedules and the next 8 months will be filled focus and productivity. Well…that is the goal.

It’s hard for me to work from home. There are many distractions and thoughts that cause my mind to go array each time I sit down. I need to wash this load of laundry before Noah’s soccer practice tonight. Or…If I prepare this dish now, we can have a decent dinner tonight and I’ll still be able to make that meeting.

I’ve tried organizing the house and removing the clutter. But somehow it doesn’t help with the decluttering of my mind. Hundreds of half-thoughts swirl around in my brain and prevent me from completing a thought or project.

Perhaps I am a bit A.D.D. but there must be steps I can take that go beyond decluttering my physical space and into my mental space. So I began to do a bit of research and pulled together a few steps I found that may be beneficial to those you who also deal with lack of cerebral order. Most are common sense and ones I’ve seen before but often repetition and reminders are all we need.

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Got stress?

 It’s nothing that a good yoga session can’t fix. A couple of stretching positions and some focused breathing can dissolve your troubles in a half hour. Between soccer practice, taxes, car repairs, bizarre co-workers, and bad hair days, stress levels are soaring in my California community. I guess a lotus position makes perfect sense.

Day spas are booming, too. A half-day’s program, with themes like “Utopia” and “Tiny Bubbles at Waikiki” sets you back about three hundred bucks. You need the first three hours to ameliorate the stress you incur with the cost of the treatment, leaving that last hour, baby, for a sweet fix. Sir Thomas More and Don Ho would be proud to be associated with such fine programs.

In my neighborhood, everyone likes the word stress. It’s blamed for male pattern baldness, bad marriages, lousy karma, and the common cold. Who knew? If I had known stress was such a killer, I would’ve signed up for yoga classes long ago and saved myself a lot of trouble.

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Sorry for going AWOL these last few weeks...

The busiest two weeks at International Arts Movement are upon us. In sixteen days, we will embark upon Encounter 09 "Art in Action," IAM's annual conference. The program for this event is steller. We will hold workshops led by folks like Steve Garber of The Washington Institute, Roberta Ahmanson, Ena Heller of the Museum of Biblical Art, artist Wayne Adams, and IAM's Board President (and Conversant Life blogger) Mark Meehan, to name just a few.

We'll also hold masterclasses taught by Susan Isaacs, Rob Mathes (who was the musical director for the Inauguration concert on HBO), and Chris Griffin.

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