Tip of My Iceberg

photo courtesy of Cris Saur on Unsplash

You know it’s bad when you sit for longer than five minutes and find yourself drifting to sleep. Sitting in an uncomfortable chair. With noise and chaos bubbling around you.

Rather than dealing with all that’s been happening in my life in a measured, deliberate way, acknowledging I can’t fill every moment of every day with activity, I’ve just kept moving, doing, pushing through.

It beats the heck out of thinking,

So I’m weary. The summer was a challenge in many ways, but my problem was not admitting it was rough. I just kept getting up each day, expecting the same energy to do life, the same hope that I typically have.

The enthusiasm was gone. With each passing day, I got more tired. Which aggravated me no end. The more frustrated I got, the more tired I became. it was a ridiculous cycle of discouragement and disappointment.

It was wearing me out.

Life has a habit of being heavy. We don’t ask for it nor want it, but the harsh realities of humanity dictate that we will have problems. Not because so many of us don’t try hard enough; we each make sacrifices for what we think is good and right. But because of our own imperfections, we mess up. The good we want to do, we don’t do. The stuff we want to avoid, we sadly end up doing.

These past years have been hard on everyone. We each used coping mechanisms that had worked for us in the past, but many became overworked and ineffective.

We’re all weary with life, wishing to go back to simpler times, easier answers. We hold onto what we think we need we need when so much of what we choose to cling to only drags us down.

Jesus, near the end of His earthly life, shared with His men that it was going to get messy very quickly. That it would be hard for them to stay with Him–which proved true once Jesus was arrested. But His encouragement was a bigger picture.

“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in Me. Here on earth you WILL HAVE MANY TRIALS AND SORROWS. But take heart, because I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD.” John 16:33

God sent Jesus to provide an alternative to the ineffective strategies we come up with. Jesus came purposefully, to provide us with life here and eternally. The enemy of our souls, the devil, tries to steal all hope from our hearts. He is wearing us down.

“A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.” John 10:10

We’re exhausted for a reason. The brokenness of life, of us, weighs heavily on us.

It’s why Jesus came. To bear the burden of the challenges of life, to revive our hearts and give rest to our souls so we have no need to rely on flimsy coping mechanisms.

I know I need to lean on Jesus and stop trying to be so self-sufficient. I rationalize that I’m a hard worker who doesn’t give up. Even when I’ve got nothing.

What’s your excuse?