Certain bigger events that happen occasionally or even annually pop up and scrunch what is usually a comfortable routine of responsibilities into a hectic, busy, and pressure-packed week. Last week it was the “Leadership Seminar” that we did all day Monday and Tuesday, taking a normal five-day workweek and cramming it into three. This week it is an all day steelhead fishing trip on the Siletz River. 😀😁😇Next week I and most of the staff are going to Cannon Beach for a “Pastor’s Prayer Summit.” The week after that is the “Five Days of Prayer.” Man, when will I ever have time to work on my 1969 Mustang!? Even though the pressure of occasional events that mess up routines and schedules doesn’t happen every week, they are certainly not occasional.

So, as you have heard me say many times and read in this blog dozens of times, “it is all in the self-talk.” If we say to ourselves, “ Darn I am so busy, and there is so much stress, and I am so tired,” we will very effectively have made ourselves miserable, tired, and stressed out. But instead, we can train ourselves to say to ourselves, “I love variety instead of being bored with regular routine stuff all the time.” “ This week is like the playoffs in football, time to see what I am made of, I am going to win!” “It is sure a blessing to be used by the Lord, instead of being put on the bench, just because I am old!” “Busy is good!” “Tired, the best feeling in the world!” “I love my life, thank You, Lord!”

The main point of this blog is don’t let your flesh turn you into a whiny wimp, but choose to make your flesh your slave, doing what you want