I don’t know when it began, but the symbol has been a pervasive one for a long time “The Lions’ Den”. It is a symbol for the conflicts in life. “They threw him to the lions,” we say of those who cruelly thrust an innocent, unsuspecting person into the most difficult of all situations.

“The Lions’ Den” is the place where our testing comes, where we struggle to keep our integrity; where we wage the fiery battle with ourselves as well as with others and/or forces outside ourselves. It may be the arena where we fight for our very life.

It is an expansive image, but I want to use it in a forward way for perhaps the most common problem we face today - the problem of stress. I doubt if any problem is getting more attention these days. Psychologists and psychiatrists are saying it’s one of our b…