“There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.” Psalm 46:4

Dear youth ministry friends,

Did you know that April is National Stress Awareness Month?

When I first heard that, I burst out into laughter. I don’t know about all of you, but I’m already pretty darn aware of my personal stress. Sometimes even on a daily basis, I am acutely attuned to how very preoccupied I can become. Like most of you, I am a busy soul, focused on and affected by everything from to-do lists to what feels like the destruction of our environment and the end of the world as we know it.

Stress is ever-present. In the words of Charlie Brown, “Why do we have to have a holiday to emphasize it?” (Charlie was speaking about being disliked, but the sentiment could apply to stress awareness, too.) But there’s a very big difference between knowing that you are stressed, and knowing what that stress is actually doing to you: to your body, to your thoughts, to your spirit, and to those around you. It is here where Stress Awareness Month might be helpful.

Research differs on which of the four primary emotions—mad, glad, sad, and frad (afraid)—undergirds stress. But most would agree that it is some combination of the latter three; “glad” is not present. It makes me wonder, how might people of faith lean into “gladness” in the month of April? Psalm 46:4 says, “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.” New waters, new life, and new creation serve to, by their very nature, make God glad. I do truly wonder, if we tap into delight, what that might look like? And might that be an antidote to the seemingly relentless imposition of stress? Maybe, just maybe, stress relents under gladness.

As our young people are stressing over exams, and college admissions, and sporting events, and graduations, and end-of-the-year activities on the horizon… maybe we can model something for them in this. Maybe we can claim gladness as a spiritual focus, not as a suggestion that everything difficult will dissipate… but perhaps it will lessen the deep impact of those difficult things, and realign our spirits towards a more hopeful gaze.

Blessings to you all as you tend to your young people this spring. May the awareness of stress cause us all to approach the season with heart strength: able to be glad of not what you can do, but of who you have been created to be.

With you on the journey,

Rev. Jill