My Sunday Skl

Let’s start off with a quote:

“God changes caterpillars into butterflies, sand into pearls and coal into diamonds using time and pressure.”

Rick Warren.

I did a short piece on pressure and mental health for my University society in Nottingham (shoutout to RY Notts), where I spoke about the negative effects of pressure, and the need to communicate it.

One thing in particular that I’d like to reiterate, is that sometimes people can see the product and not the pressure that was behind it.

We can see the pearls but not the sand which had all that pressure applied to it.

Often we see people being used. We see the product of the faith. But we do not see the pressure.

And if we are not careful, that pressure will build in silence, to where they become a completely new person.

That’s what I said…

But let’s flip it.

Yes society applies pressure, but I would say God utilises it as well to change us.

But before we get into that, let’s that a step back.

It’s good to reflect.

It’s good to look back on situations and figure out why you felt like you did. Why you experienced what you experienced.

So I started thinking about times where I felt under pressure, and I realised it often came from two things:

• I was doing too much
• I was trying to do it all by myself

And I realised, throughout times I’ve felt under pressure, I’ve also experienced a sense of pride.

It’s a great feeling saying:

“I’m doing XYZ.”

“I’m so busy because I’ve got this, this and this.”

“I am making plans to go here, here and even there.”

But the truth is, this often leads to unwarranted pressure, because it’s all about me.

I am doing this.

I am making plans.

I am so busy.

And often we forget we are not the source, but simply a container.

Like bottles are important.

We need bottles.

But really when you buy a bottle of coke, what you really are purchasing is the coke.

The substance within.

When you’re done with the coke, you throw away the bottle.

The bottle’s purpose is tied to the substance within it.

But often, we find ourselves pushing beyond what has been put within us.

Or even worse, we start to believe we are what is in us.

I heard this in a sermon:

Pressure begins to build when the container starts believing it’s the substance.

Or I guess you can say…

Pressure begins to build when the vessel believes it is the power.

And often we find ourselves stepping into roles, taking on responsibility, that wasn’t meant for us.

See many of us have been blessed with a substance, a power, a gift, but because we have begun to believe we are the power, we are the gift, we begin to step into roles that isn’t for us.

We are the bottle, but we want to help the thirsty.

A bottle cannot help the thirsty on it’s own. And when it tries, it experiences pressure.

But when it recognises the substance, the power, that has been put inside it, it can step out and be of use.

I think the issue is many of us have begun to believe we are what we have been blessed with, and so we step out, believing we are enough, not drawing on the power we were blessed with and experience pressure as a result.

Let’s look at ourselves.

The reason we are experiencing pressure, is because we are trying to change that person.

We are trying to find that new job.

We are trying to raise that money.

We are trying to save them.

But the truth is, we don’t have the ability to.

And in today’s culture of self-development, it is easy to convince yourself  that you are the power and not the container.

I’m in favour of self-development.

Read your books.

Watch those videos.

Take those courses.

But do so, so that you can be the best container, the best vessel, the best host, and not so you can gain more power.

God Bless