I’ve taken on too much this semester.
You know the feeling. You’ve done it too. Maybe not this semester, but at some point you have taken on too much.
Feel the tightening in your chest, the pressure bearing down on your shoulders, your racing thoughts. There is not enough time; there will never be enough time to do it all.
All you can do is do and hope that Jesus will have compassion on your harried, hurried self. That he will multiply your hours, the hours that you decided to sign away without consulting him. That he will breathe peace into your rapidly beating heart, your spinning mind, your anxious soul.
My devotional time has gotten squeezed in this season of inordinate busyness, so I hung some Scripture in the shower (Ziploc bag, Command hook, if you’re wondering) to take advantage of the few moments I have in there. To give those moments to Jesus.
This week’s Scripture is those Matthew 11 verses that are so familiar to those of us who identify as Type-A, workaholic, nose-to-the-grindstone, up-by-the-bootstraps folk.
It’s Jesus’ reminder to take his yoke (not our own).
To learn from him (not whoever happens to be yelling loudest in the cultural town square).
To find rest (not more endless “to do” lists).
Yet I didn’t make it farther than the first three words before the tears came.
Come to me.
That, I realized, is what I’ve been missing. In my desire to do – for Jesus, for my family, for our bank account, for our home, for our future – I have forgotten his first and always invitation.
Come to me.
You guys, where Jesus is there is life. There is rest. There is peace.
Come to me.
Pastors need this reminder as much as anyone. Sometimes we get so set on doing for God that we forget to sit with him. To curl up against him. To let his love wash over us.
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, 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. –Matthew 11:28-30
Are you weary and burdened?
Aren’t we all?
Come to Jesus.
[I know folks from my church read these devotionals, so I want to be clear that I’m not on the verge of burnout. You all aren’t working me too hard. I’m being stretched by a few extraneous things I took on for these few months–teaching a couple of adjunct writing courses, working on a book project, traveling for the PhD finale. God is good and there is an end to the intensity in sight. I love you guys to the moon and back.]
Courtney Ellis 