•••
’WHE R E
THE R E ’'S A WI L L T H ER E ' S A WAY
REV CAREL BOTMA
GEBREEK:
ALLES ’N RAMP
READ: Genesis 3:1; 14-19
EVERYTHING WAS GOOD.
AND GOD SMILED ABOUT
IT...
B
ut the snake was more cunning than all the animals
which God created and it seduced
man. The once perfect symphony
of creation now had a false note.
In fact, it deteriorated to a chaos in
which man had to live and work.
The reality in which man found
himself, was irreparably broken.
Within this chaotic environment we continuously attempt to
collect resources or protect existing
resources, since it provides some
structure to our broken lives and
our self-image.
In practise it merely means
that, due to the fall of man, we
will have to work hard to eke out
an existence on earth. The Bible is
clear about it. Let’s look at Gene
sis 3:17: “Cursed is the ground
because of you; through painful
56
toil you will eat of it all the days
of your life,”... until you return to
the earth.
Think of all the times when you
have to work hard, under difficult
conditions, to keep body and
soul together. The rain came too
late for the farmers, the business
man must keep his business going
despite the difficult economic
climate and the employee has to
work longer hours in order to
maintain his work performance
and to achieve certain objectives
and due dates. Year after year you
sit with the never-ending cycle
of hard work, sacrifices and the
concomitant risks. You are possibly caught up in a work situation
which makes you very unhappy.
Work, work, work “until you return to dust.”
Our possessions which we accumulated with so much trouble
and hard work are important to
us - our identity and security are
determined by whatever we managed to accumulate, no matter
Apr/May 2016 • SENWES Scenario
how insignificant it may be. It determines who we are, where we fit
into society and how we function
and our status in society. If we, our
possessions or people close to us
are threatened, we become anxious
and concerned. Man and his resources then experience a state of
emergency, namely stress.
However, this is not where
it ends. We then borrow energy
from other resources, namely our
physical abilities. We work harder
to make up for the lack of time, or
we reprioritise our resources and
move some of them aside until
we have more time. My family
or friends, who are social support
resources, will only receive attention at a later stage, when we have
more time. The downscaling and
neglecting of man’s social resources
could have negative implications.
This neglected and under-fed
source plays a pivitol role when
you experience stress. It serves as
emergency reserve used by the other sources to manage the state of
emergency (stress). The emotional
resources of a person experiencing
stress go into high gear in order to
make up for existing shortcomings
and to prevent the disturbance
of the unity and balance of his
resources. Any disturbance of the
balance of your resources makes
you anxious - your world threatens
to fall apart and the world with
its stressful demands threaten to
overwhelm you. Total burn-out
then becomes a real danger. But I
will tell you more about this at a
later stage.