Stretched

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30

  

Ever have one of those days (weeks, months, years or lifetime thus far) where you felt pulled in so many directions that you felt as though you should have been a cartoon octopus?  People calling you and, while you're on the phone, texts are coming in from multiple people and, while you're trying to deal with all the communication, more and more waves of responsibilities or the "and all other duties" statement of your job description has just kicked into nuclear overdrive.  No matter how much you accomplish, ten more items fill that void, lest you become bored and actually have the time to breathe.

I'm going to most likely step on some toes here, but here goes. This past week has been one of those weeks where my mind finally had gone numb from the overload of expectations. I sent out a message for help and received such wonderful responses such as "Praying for you from the Beach" and "Sorry to hear that, but this vacation is AWESOME!"  I felt defeated, deflated, frustrated and irritated to say the least.  I even told my longsuffering bride that just once, I'd like for someone to come to us and say, "You need to get away, let me fill in for a week while you rest and relax."  

But then, true to form, 1:27 in the morning, was rather rudely awakened because of the sense that God wanted to chat.  Got some coffee, sat in my chair, and only got two stitches of the latest BUBBA done when it hit me, I'm only human!  God made me in His image, but that does not mean I have endless energy.  We, as humans, have not been filled with boundless endurance to keep going long after the capacity has been reached.  

Then, today's verse made a little more sense.  I was weary.  I was heavy laden.  I needed rest. But I had no idea how or when that would happen.  What I did learn was this, when we feel overwhelmed and exhausted, we need to share that burden!  Talk with God about it!  Rely on each other to actually step up and help out, especially if they expect the same from us.