#I'mTired

rest

This has not been an easy week. In fact, it’s been an up-at-5:30-go-all-day-collapse-into-bed-around-midnight-dog-tired kind of week. The day job has been stressful. The extra-curricular activity shuttling of children started in full-gear. There were spelling tests and math quizzes to help study for, PTO meetings to prepare for, committee meetings to attend, volunteer events to plan, piles of laundry to fold, the suitcase to finish unpacking from that business trip I took 4 weeks ago, etc.
It’s Friday night and I’m exhausted. This is not a new feeling for me. I’m pretty sure the last time I felt rested was in 2002. But this Friday, instead of wanting to break down into tears of exhaustion or hide under my covers, I actually have a smile and feel at peace. And I know the reason is because this week I have made time to spend in the Word and prayer every single day.  And every day God, in His undeniable ways, met me where I was and I either read a devotion, heard a song, or found a bit of scripture that spoke directly to what I was struggling with that day. I know after 37 years I shouldn’t be surprised that He does that, but it still amazes me.
This past Sunday the message at church was about being tired. Not just physically, although that’s a big part of my life, but being mentally drained and spiritually depleted, as well. The sermon could have literally been written for me, as it described my life to a tee. Every week I talk to my step-mom on the phone and she always asks me the same question, “how are you?” and I always answer the same way, “tired, stressed…you know, the usual.”
The worst part is I keep kidding myself that if I can just “get past this one thing,” “finish this one project,” etc. then things will return to “normal” — whatever that is. First it was getting through the infancy of my first-born. Then it was getting through being pregnant with twins, and then the first year of having infant twins and a toddler (not much I remember about their first 6 months). Then it was, changing my job, ending my commute, finishing grad school…you get the picture. But there always seems to be one. more. thing.
What really stuck with me after Sunday’s message was the idea of margin. Like a piece of paper, we all have a margin in our life that needs to be reserved and protected. As a marketing person who has taken a design class or two, I know how important white space and margin are. You fill up a piece of paper with too much text and images and it looks terrible! Not only that, but your core message is going to get lost in the midst of the chaos and clutter.
I can keep waiting for this phase or that one to end. But as long as I keep adding things that spill into the margins of my life I will stay in this same, exhausted place, where often the core message of my soul is lost in the chaos and clutter. Intellectually I know this, but for some reason I continue to struggle with actually doing it. For years I have beaten-up and berated myself, thinking:
“Why can’t you get this figured out?”
“How hard is it to say ‘no’ or take care of yourself.”
“No one’s going to do it for you.”
But listening to the core teaching verse this Sunday I finally realized I don’t have to –nor can I– do this alone.
In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus says, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
If I want to find rest. If I want to eliminate excess and lighten my burdens. If I seek healing and restoration then I must start with Jesus. For He is “my strength and my fortress, my refuge.”
Matthew 11:28
When I don’t know what to let go of, He will show me the way.
When I feel depleted, His Word will fill my soul.
When I forget how to care for myself, He will remind me what is needed.
While I may not have been able to let go of much of the worldly things I had on my “to-do list” this week, I was able to spend time every day looking to God for guidance and wisdom.
I’m a work in progress. I know with time, practice and dependence on the Heavenly Father I will learn how to maintain margin.

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6 thoughts on “#I'mTired

  • September 13, 2014 at 11:03 am
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    I felt better just reading that, thank you for some weekend inspiration!

    Reply
    • September 13, 2014 at 11:18 am
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      Thank you, Kim!

      Reply
  • September 15, 2014 at 12:37 pm
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    Wow your week sounded like mine! Except the only happens once in a while tire blown and keys locked in my car added to the list of day and night events on top of it being my most irritable time of the month! Sadly I did not get as much time as I wanted with God, though he made me stop when I needed to. Thankfully, I had a husband who was taking time every day with God and was helpful, comforting, and sensitive to my stressful week! #iamtired but its ok… God is there! I just need to listen 🙂 hope yours and my week is better jelise! Thanks for sharing. I always feel more normal when others express they go through the same struggles and victories.

    Reply
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  • September 19, 2014 at 11:27 am
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    Since my youngest son was in Ninth Grade I have painted my mailbox on Rt. 50 with words that the Lord gives me periodically. Recently he gave me some. As I felt His nudging to do it, so many other things felt more important and necessary. God always knows what we need as well as others. “Be strong in THE LORD.” We can be strong in strength, in getting our to-do list done, in accomplishing all sorts of daily things big and small, going to meetings, being everything to everybody but there is no substitute for being quiet and being in His Word and being found in Jesus. He makes everything all right. I painted the mailbox and it keeps me on track. Matthew 6:33 forever resounds in my mind as I choose the best and leave the rest. He says, “Come away with me beloved…..” and I am forever swept away without a care in the world when I let Him lead my dance!

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