I survived for the first sixty years of my life without giving much thought to how many steps I was doing each day. I can remember a colleague way back in the seventies saying that we should be provided with pedometers at work to record how many steps we took in any given day, and if I’m being honest, I thought the idea was barmy and wondered who would be interested in any case.
Today, I am the owner of a smart watch which records my steps and there are times when I become quite obsessed by how many steps I take in a day, and I check before going to bed on an evening. If I’ve had quite a sedentary day and my steps are low, I feel utterly ashamed of myself. My smart watch is not one of the most expensive ones on the market and I’m never sure just how reliable it is, we can wander around Jimmy’s Farm, a local attraction in Ipswich and my steps hardly register for some reason, which is always a bitter disappointment.
This morning I went for a walk around the block, and on my return, I made myself a cuppa and as I stirred the tea bag vigorously my watch vibrated and told me that I had just accomplished five thousand steps! I’m sure that I don’t use my watch to its full potential, and if I could be bothered, it could provide me with even more information to become obsessed by.
This is another reminder of the stresses of modern living and devices designed to assist us to live happy and fulfilling lives can so easily become the cause of much anxiety. I learned a long time ago that I work at by best under pressure, hindsight is very frustrating and guilt provoking, but looking back, I could have achieved a better degree, if it hadn’t been for the fast that every single assignment was rushed and last minute, and I was even penalised on several occasions for handing work in late. I always had good excuses and I guess that at my age now, I have much bigger issues to worry about.
Have you ever considered how much pressure Jesus was under? We know that he was around thirty years old when he began his work of ministry and I guess that from the outset, he knew that he would put noses out of joint, it took guts to tell the leadership of the Jewish tradition that they were misunderstanding the holy scriptures and not living in the way God intended. He took on people in authority, mixed with undesirables in their view, challenged their interpretation of the law, and defied them publicly. He picked an odd little band of followers and set about training them in just three years to be the kind of men who would lead a whole new way of understanding religion. Have you ever considered how difficult it must have been for Jesus to head for Jerusalem, knowing that he would face physical pain, mental torture, and a crowd baying for his blood?
Under pressure, Jesus not only remained true to his cause, he made use of every minute of the last few days of his ministry on earth. If you look at everything that happened during Holy Week as it is recorded in the four gospel stories, you will see how under the threat of death, knowing that he is facing his most agonising hour, Jesus remains true to his cause, and even on the cross, he is still serving others. In this modern technological age, let us not make everything about us, but let us embrace the wonders of the modern age and use them for the good of others. Maybe it’s okay to be stressed, so long as we are stressing over the right things.