Feeling The Pressure

Have you ever been known for something and it becomes such a big deal that you start to feel pressure to keep it up? For instance, I’ve become pretty well known for being good at board games and everyone assumes I’m going to win because of it. What happens when I lose though? Everyone makes a big deal about it. So it puts this unwanted pressure on me to make sure my team wins. I’m also one of those people who are usually early to things, so I’ve set myself up for this one. But every once in a while, I want to be the one that shows up late or lose the board game on purpose. I’m not quite sure why, maybe it is the pressure whether I place it on myself or not. I think one of the biggest things for me is the pressure from being a youth leader. The pressure to always make sure I’m living my life as a good example for them. This is something I would try to do anyway, but just because they’re constantly watching, that adds pressure. I’m sure people with kids feel this way too. I know kids feel peer pressure, I still feel peer pressure as an adult though. The other day at work, some people were trying to convince me that I should start smoking again. I quit more than 5 years ago and I will admit that I still miss it every once in a while. It’s one of those things that I want to give into the pressure every once in a while. The more the people at work talked about it, the more I wanted to go buy a pack of cigarettes. Thankfully I didn’t though. So we put pressure on ourselves and other people put pressure on us, but what about God? I don’t think He pressures us; I think He gives us choices and hopes that we make the right choice. But I think the reason we feel pressure is because we’re afraid of doing the wrong thing and the consequences or even guilt that comes from it. God will never put that kind of pressure on us. He doesn’t make us feel guilt or shame from our choices. The book “The Shack” touches on that a bit. That God will love us no matter what choices we make or what failures we may have in our lives. He won’t love me more if I’m early for every single thing or if I have a moment of weakness. His love is unconditional; Psalm 136:2 Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever. Forever, without end, no matter what! How awesome is that!

~ by scootergirl1978 on April 30, 2009.