Say to those with a palpitating heart:
Take courage and fear not...
(Isaiah 35:4)
Sound like anyone you know?
"I would love to encourage people," Leah told me. "I think I'd be good at it. I just never really have time. Keeping up with my job and family and the house and laundry...I'm too tired to do anything but watch the News and go to bed!"
How do we encourage the exhausted when our own energy is continually spent? When we live with the same schedules, priorities and exhaustion that the world offers, we discover that we, too, are empty and dry. We cannot encourage others if our daily lives are no different from theirs.
"I have kids", Gina sighed sadly, "and it takes all of my energy to get them where they need to be. It seems like everything I do is for the purpose of growing my kids up to be successful people and use all their God-given opportunities. Besides, kids need to be kept busy and involved! But, yeah, I'm exhausted. Quite frankly, so are they."
Dallas Willard said, "Arrange your life in such a way that you have joy, great contentment and bold confidence in God." It's become my favorite challenge and encouragement for maintaining my priorities.
When we set our minds on things above, not on earthly things, transformation happens. We become the sort of person who naturally encourages the exhausted.
Shouldn't joy, contentment and confidence in God be the bedrock of Christian life? What if instead of living in a tornado of chaos and exhaustion, we stopped? What if instead of laughing off our over-crowded lives, we chose to pursue peace?
Our encouragement would come, not from behavior modification, trying harder to balance everything, but from giving God time and room to refine us, to transform us, from the inside out. We would encourage out of the easy yoke, a rested heart of joy.
Certainly we each have temporarily busy, difficult seasons. Circumstances gradually pull us into exhausting difficulties. It's easy to get stuck there. Have you noticed in your own busy seasons how desperately you long for encouragement?
More of Him. Less of me. That is the source of abundant life, His wellspring of grace upon grace, joy upon joy, peace that passes understanding. He gives us enough time to step away from the noise and fray, to be invited into unhurried living alongside Him in the easy yoke.
What if instead of hurriedly asking someone how they're doing, we listened to the outpouring of their heart?
What if when asked how we are doing, we took the time to truthfully answer, "You know, I'm doing well. I'm getting good rest, eating healthy foods, getting lovely walks, enjoying the Word and prayer."
What if we arranged our lives in such a way that we could encourage the exhausted out of our abundance?
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