Peace and the Four P’s of Stress

Luca Bravo, Unsplash

In the second week of Advent, the traditional theme is peace (the four themes for the four weeks of Advent are hope, peace, joy, and love). As we reflect on the Prince of Peace and the peace that he offers us, I also can’t help but ponder what hinders and gets in the way of experiencing peace. 

A while back, Rachel and I were meeting with a counselor, who is also a long-time friend. During our conversation we started talking about stress. He mentioned four types of stress that affect our lives. As I have been reflecting on what he said and my life over the last year, I paid attention to how these different types of stress rob us of the peace that God offers. They happen to be alliterated together and all start with “p,” like peace (and pandemic, ha!). The four different types of stress are: 

Potent Stress- A big and/or disruptive event that enters into our lives. This could be a job change or loss of a job, moving, the loss of a loved one, a significant medical diagnoses, etc. 

Persistent Stress- Stress that has been with us for a long time. It may be a heavy stress, or relatively minor, but its persistence can chip away at us. Our to-do list can be a source of persistent stress. A sprained ankle is a physical example, as it’s something that takes a while to heal. Potent stress can give way to persistent stress (the pandemic has moved us collectively from a potent stress to a persistent stress in many ways. There are still of course instances of potent stress for individuals and families in this season, such as watching a loved one deeply struggle with COVID). 

Pervasive stress- This is a latent stress, feeling like there is a weight on your shoulders, a sense of off-kilterness. It’s not as acute as the other stresses, but it affects everything. Because of its pervasiveness, it can amplify all other types of stress. 

Perceived Stress- This one can be the hardest to identify because it is not actual yet. Because it is hard to recognize, perceived stress can be one of the most powerful. It’s like that feeling when we turn a test or paper in, or submit a resume, and anxiously wait until we hear back. In our minds, we begin to run through worst-case scenarios, even though we don’t know what the outcome will be. Or perhaps it's even a particularly difficult conversation we need to have with someone, and the feelings of stress are looming. We can simply become stressed about something we perceive as going to be stressful in the future; sometimes the very thing we’re worried about becomes realized, and sometimes not. 

For many of us, we are feeling more than one of these types of stress at the same time. Perhaps, all four are hitting us in different ways simultaneously.  

Pandemic- The ongoing pandemic has brought on and magnified all four types of stress. Remember when the world fully shut down? And how we thought we would be through this in a few short weeks, or months at the longest? Or that feeling last spring when the mask mandates were lifted it felt like we were returning to something the resembled normalcy, only to be thrown right back into the pandemic this fall. The pervasive nature of pandemic stress can make the smallest events and inconveniences seem huge. We don’t know what the future looks like, but thinking about it can be stressful!! The pandemic has strained families, relationships and communities, jobs, and our outlook on the future. It has changed our decision making. It has changed how we work, shop, do community, and travel. There isn’t much that hasn’t been affected by the pandemic. 

Peace

And yet, God’s invitation to peace still remains the same. As the Prince of Peace, he invites us into his shalom. 

“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7 NIV11)

The word peace is a prominent theme in the scriptures. Both in the OT and the NT. The idea of it is more comprehensive than what we are familiar with. We often talk about peace in two ways in our day and age. Externally it means the absence of conflict, when two countries are “at peace.” Internally, it means a state of harmony: “I am at peace.” 

The Biblical concept of shalom includes both of these kinds of peace, but it’s also much larger than that. Shalom is connected to the idea of flourishing. Our life in God is flourishing, giving way to an internal sense of flourishing in the midst of whatever circumstances we may encounter. 

In our day and age, our hearts long for some sense of normalcy and good news. We want things to feel normal again, even if “normal” looks a bit different than it did previously. 

Biblically, this sense of peace not only existed within times of turmoil, but actually came about because of turmoil. Jason Gaboury reminds us: “It’s easy to forget that many things in which we find great comfort and connection emerged out of seasons of anguish.” Psalm 23 highlights this. This Psalm invites us into peace, and yet David acknowledges seasons of walking through the valley of the shadow of death and being seated at the table in the midst of enemies. 

God’s peace transcends our circumstances, but he doesn’t diminish or deny our circumstances. Our entry into His invitation to peace isn’t by denying our points of stress or what is hindering us from receiving his peace. Often it comes through processing our points (with God and others) of stress and offering it up to the Lord and allowing his peace to meet us there.

To help you process and bring your circumstances and stress, we have attached a worksheet inviting you to look at the four P’s of stress and engage them with the Lord. We encourage you to find a trusted spiritual friend or meet with a spiritual director to process them more deeply.

May you encounter the peace of the Lord in this Advent season.