income tax

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Maybe I Didn’t Think I Had Enough Stress

Could I have added more stress to my life? I don’t know what I was thinking; I’m just glad I got through it. Stress is something we all live with, but there are times when stress is higher than at other times.

I’ve even heard that a little stress is good for you. Stress keeps you alert, motivated; it keeps the blood pumping.

Without a little stress we would probably all be sloths, sitting – rather, lying – around with no cares, no urgency, no get up and go.

When I was a teen I had no stress in the summers. I would sleep until 11 a.m. and then stay up late at night.

My dad used to call that “living the life of Riley”, and though I never met Riley, and didn’t have any idea what he did, it sure sounded like he had a pretty good life.

At the time, it sounded like my dad wished he had a little of that life.

Now I always have a little stress in my life. I always have something to do, and if I don’t, I put a little stress on myself to find something that I need to be doing.

But this past Saturday I put too much stress on my life.  

It was game 5 in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. My team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, were down 3 games to 1 in the series. 

They were facing elimination and playing in Boston, which has so far in this series proved to be a near impossible place in which to win.

To be honest, I didn’t have much hope for my Leafers going into the game. 

But just the same, I was a little stressed that they would leave the playoffs so quickly after having such a great year. 

I was also preaching the next morning. I’m very used to that so no bad stress there – just a little good stress having my sermon in the back of my mind.

That should have been enough stress for one night. I should have been happy that I was showing no signs of slothfulness on a Saturday night.

But for some crazy reason I decided to add more stress to the evening … I decided to start doing my income tax.

I’m not sure why but maybe I thought that it would provide a distraction from the stress that was being generated in me by the game.

Everyone has to do taxes but you don’t have to do them when you’re stressed out to begin with. But that’s exactly what I did.

It was a rollercoaster of a night. Tension was high because the Leafs weren’t making it easy, especially with all the penalties they took in the second period. 

All the while I was gathering my information, making calculations and demanding that Lily find me certain documents and receipts. 

It was a brutal night, but the Leafs won which reduced my stress level significantly. And though I didn’t finish my taxes, I got to a winning stage with them as well.

Now I need a day of being a sloth so I can recuperate.

Here’s the thing: We put even more stress on ourselves whenever we don’t seek God in times of stress. Even if it’s a little, if we will take it to Him rather than go it alone, God can ease our burden, leaving us with just the right amount of stress to keep us moving forward.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How do you deal with stress in your life? Leave your comments below.

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How To Delegate Responsibility To Your Children

You know the saying, “If you give a man a fish you feed him for a day; if you teach a man to fish you feed him for a life time”? I think I may have just taught my daughter to fish.

income tax help

I don’t really mean she’s become a fisherman, or fisherwoman, or even a fisher person. I mean that I think I’ve just taught my daughter to do her own income tax.

When your children grow up, you look back on those key moments in their lives where you are proud of their accomplishments and think, “Wow, we’ve just come through a milestone.”

… Things like their first step, learning to tie their shoes, getting their driver’s license, graduating from university, and learning to complete their own tax returns.

I need to pause for a moment . . . haaaaa . . . my little girl is all grown up now.

There is a method that one should use in teaching someone else something. Normally you first show them the tax form so they know what it looks like. Then you show them their completed form so they know there’s some work involved.

The next step is to have them watch you do it, and ask questions along the way. And finally, you watch them do it, and then hand them their income tax file from previous years and say, “It’s all your responsibility now.”

Well, I just did all that in one year, one day, actually in a couple of hours. I’m not sure it will all stick, but I think she’s got the basics so that I may only get a phone call or two next year, if her fishing line gets caught on the rocks … I mean if she runs into a snag.

The one thing I’m a little worried about is that she will approach income tax with the same dread and disdain that I do. She’s heard my frustration, she’s felt the chill in the basement when I’m working on it and she knew to stay clear of dad.

It’s no secret I don’t like income tax season. I wrote about it in a blog last year called, “The Season I Hate The Most”. You can read that one here.

I hope my attitude doesn’t rub off on her. Maybe I should change my attitude, but I’ve been doing income taxes for myself and my family for way over 30 years. That’s not an easy attitude adjustment to make.

I wouldn’t say tax season comes as a surprise to me each spring, but It’s funny how this attitude arrives every year at this time. It’s not that funny, however. It’s only funny like hitting your funny bone (a sharp pain that lingers for a while).

One thing I know, this is the first year Karlie is getting a big refund, and she’s all excited about income tax for the first time in her life. Here’s hoping that attitude continues.

Here’s the Thing: When we’re young we lean on our parents for our spiritual base. We follow their influence or tradition, even their approach to spiritual things and faith. In essence, we let them do all our spiritual work. But we have to take responsibility for our own spiritual lives. We have to go from leaning on our parents, to having a personal relationship with God. If we don’t, we will always be relying on a parent, a pastor, or someone to feed us spiritually.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you done to take responsibility for your spiritual life?

I’d love to hear from you; you can leave a comment below.