Turning Shades of Brown

One of the things our kids have enjoyed about Texas has been the lizards and toads around the yard. The most exciting of these is the anole lizard. They dart up trees, climb walls and escape most attempts to capture them.

I impressed myself by snagging one of them last night. I held it out for the girls to see it and then put it on William's arm. After the anole scampered away, I captured it again. But this time it quickly changed from the bright green to dark brown right in my hand. Apparently, this little creatures change color when they become stressed.

In addition to the sheer amazement of seeing this transformation first-hand--pun intended--I thought about how I respond to stress and pressure. Clearly, I don't change colors. Unfortunately, some of the changes in me are not so easily detected. I can slip into 'worst-case' imagination and quickly conceive of all the bad things that might happen to me in light of this new challenge. I've found over the years that under stress I react more emotionally and at times less rationally (not that I'm in favor of Stoicism--I'll post about the Stoics later this week). I can lose perspective on reality and fail to remember how God has provided again and again in my life.

What about you? How do you respond under stress? Do you change colors? If so, please post a photo.