Stress Less, Be a Tree!

Hi everyone,
I want to talk about something that I have struggled with this week. And that is stress. My hope is that this can be an encouragement to all of you out there who are over-thinkers, have the over-achiever syndrome, perfectionist syndrome or just have a tendency to over-stress in general. I am a perfectionist in the sense I don't expect others to be perfect but somehow I expect myself to be. I am the one who puts completely unrealistic expectations on my shoulders and growls at myself when I can't reach them. I am the millennial, who honestly loathes being a millennial at times, because of the modern day stereotype and who tells myself that I have to be like people who are 20+ years older than me. I put pressure on myself to be like people who have had many more years life experience and knowledge than me and when I obviously can't be at that level I get frustrated with myself and feel useless. I want to do and learn all these random thing that people my age aren't particularly interested in (Example: I've decided I want to have my own house built someday, therefore I need to know everything about building houses and being my own contractor...yeah I'm odd I know ;) but often I place a burden on myself because I feel that I have got to learn these things not just because I want to, but because I have to prove myself as being "older" than I am. I often do this at work and I struggled with it a lot this past week because I interact mainly with people who are quite a bit older than me on a regular basis. So I've put this cross on my back that I somehow have to handle it all as if I have to prove my value to everyone. And at work this week a lot of things got thrown at me and instead of running to God with my worries and concerns I let stress build up until it spilled out. Then afterwards, I really felt like the immature millennial stereotype that people like to throw out there. That is not how I want people to see me. I want to be knowledgeable, mature, and capable but I need to not take things to the extreme. And I am not a 45 year old. I am a 24 year old surviving and learning in the position I have been given and that is OK! I can strive to be the best I can be for my age but to compare myself against those who have lived longer, worked longer, faced more challenges, and have had more time and experience is completely unfair and literally exhausting! Plus it is not what God wants me to do. He wants me to be confident in the way He made me and in the way He is growing me. He wants me to use what I know so far to help others. Stress is not to be in the equation. Simply striving to be the best you can be for His glory and not to prove that you are worthy to other generations is what should be happening. Stress is defined as "tension" and "pressure" that cause strain and insecurity in the human mind. It prevents you from being your best. It is worry that overtakes your confidence, your joy, and your vitality.
This morning at church it was amazing because every time, the message seems to be exactly what I need to hear. Today the main text was from Psalm 1:1-3. It explains the man who does not follow the path of the wicked but yet: "...his delight is in the Lord's instruction and he meditates on it day and night. He is like a tree planted beside streams of water that bears its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers." (vs.2-3 HCSB)
Now I don't know about you but I want to be like that tree! In Jeremiah 17:8 it has the same analogy where the tree "doesn't fear when heat comes and its foliage remains green." The heat came this week and I withered. These verses reminded me of what happens when we do not stay deeply rooted in scripture and prayer and begin to replace God's opinion with the opinion of others. None of us are useless irregardless of where we are at in life. Everyone's story is different and everyone is at a different point in their lives. You don't have to be like everybody else. You don't have to be in this mad dash to always prove that you are worthy of the position that you are in at work, or that you deserve to be someone's friends or that you get noticed by someone. Of course we must strive to be our best but realize that you were chosen for a reason and that there is always room for improvement and it's not a bad thing! 2 Peter 1:1-11 is an excellent passage about to grow in faith like that beautiful tree by the stream. God has given us everything we need for this life to be achievers through His knowledge and understanding. By this "He has given us very great and precious promises so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in this world because of evil desires." (vs. 4) We need to stop relying on our own knowledge and start digging deep into His. We need to stop stressing over the world's approval and seek His in our day to day life. We need to bear fruit and put on His characteristics. (vs.5-7,Galatians 5:22-23) These things will prevent us from being useless (vs.8). And these things will be joy and blessings to our lives. 
When we seek after these things and study His words day and night, it will slowly start block the stress and concerns. They will still keep coming but you will become stronger and better at tossing them up to God and walking on rather than breaking down. But you have to be enveloped in His truth continually and it just so happens that the very days I stray away from my time with Him, the frustration begins to be build until things begin to spill out. This is not the fruit we want to show people. We do not want to be "blind and shortsighted" (vs.9) We want to be the tree that is deeply rooted, getting life constantly from the stream(the Father) and that despite drought, scorching heat, or storms stands calmly and confidently with sweet evidence of God's greatness. That is what people will notice regardless of age and experience. Because if we strive to be what God wants us to be we will receive the greatest acceptance we could ever ask for. "For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly supplied to you." (vs.11) We don't have to be a perfectionist for Christ. He has already paid the price because there is no way we could be perfect enough to deserve eternal life. We don't have to over-think is love for us. He simply does despite if we were born knowing how to automatically run a business or not. ;) We don't have to prove that we are good enough for Him by all that we do for our age. We will never be deserving but He died for us anyway.
Join me in trying to stress less and rest more in the Lord's truth. I want to get that joy back. Grow in knowledge and experience and don't take your age either young or old as a curse. Don't let doubts creep in and the devil speak lies to you. When ever those thoughts come in I have decided to make it a point to pray in those moments whatever I am doing. Do fight against the enemies attacks instead of giving in to them. Become the person who stands calmly no matter what chaos is going on in life. Know that you are not alone and also that there are always those in life that have much harder things to deal with. When you fail pick yourself back up, apologize to those around you and learn from your mistakes. It is not always going to be easy but commit to standing the test of time hand in hand with the Lord and be that tree flowing with life.