To the Woman Who Is Ready for a Break From Life
The evening sky is graying with dusk, and your feet are weary from a full day of living in the thick of your calling. You’re ready for the needy people to head home so you can do the same—so you can take a long break from life and this world with its incessant demands.
Most of us have been here.
It might be the classroom where you invest your time in the education of young lives.
Maybe it’s the house where the children rule the schedule and the walls close in at approximately 4:43 every afternoon.
Perhaps it’s the quiet cubicle where you spend the day answering phone calls from frustrated old women.
The daily grind wears you thin. You desperately crave a break from life.
When You’re Ready for a Break From Life
You know what it is to be poured out. You’ve looked to the people who want what you have to give, and you’ve wanted nothing more than to send them back to wherever they came from.
I imagine this is how the disciples felt at the end of a long day of ministering to the multitudes.
They were tired, hungry, and ready to call it a day. They approached their Teacher and encouraged him to send the people home.
Most of us can relate.
Haven’t most of us reached the place where we decided that the apathy of those we came to serve is just too disheartening, and so we walked away? We have grown frustrated when our callings failed to match our expectations, and so we threw in the towel. Haven’t we grumbled when it didn’t all play out like we thought it would?
We know what happens when the disciples approach Jesus with a request to send the people home. Jesus takes the five meager loaves of bread and the two fish that are found on hand. He blesses them, breaks them, and disperses them to the crowd so that everyone has enough to eat. There are 12 baskets left over.
The Example of a Weary Savior
Let’s not allow the familiarity of this Sunday school favorite to numb us to its implications for our lives.
There is a time to pull back, rest, and take a break from life and its constant demands.
There is also a time to keep giving.
As we follow God, we can trust him to help us discern the difference between the times when we should pull back and the times when we should keep pouring out.
Do you feel like you have no choice but to keep pouring out to the little one who needs you every hour of the day and night, the coworkers to whom you minister, or the broken people in your life?
Here are three truths to inspire your continued giving:
1. When we keep what we have, that is all we have.
Imagine if instead of letting Jesus break and multiply the food, the disciples had simply hidden behind a tall tuft of grass and broken the five loaves and two fish among themselves.
Each man would have eaten less than half of a small piece of bread and a bite or two of fish. Instead, they gave what they had to Jesus, and they each walked away with a full basket of leftovers.
2. Giving is what opens us up to receive.
It’s not easy to give Jesus our treasured possessions and trust him to use them for his good.
It can be hard to give him our time when our to-do lists are long.
It’s not easy to believe he will always supply all we need and more.
However, it’s not until we give him what we have that we experience his abundance in our scarcity. Sometimes you have to take the first step into the raging current before the Miracle-worker pulls back the waters and makes the way clear.
Sometimes you have to take the first step into the raging current before the Miracle-worker pulls back the waters and makes the way clear. #miracles #followingJesus #risk #encounteringGod Click To Tweet3. When we send away the parts of our calling that are inconvenient, we send away the miracle.
The disciples wanted to send the crowds away. They wanted the day to be done so they could return to a quiet place, rest, and fill their stomachs. They didn’t know that doing so would mean forfeiting the miracle Jesus was about to perform before their eyes.
I wonder how often I’ve sent away the miracles God wanted to work through me in my life: that annoying coworker, that ministry that got hard, that job that started to feel like more than I could take. There is a time to walk away and begin again, but there is also a time to embrace a calling and expect God’s next miracle.
Are you ready for a break from life? Are you waiting for the doors of heaven to open wide? Begin by realizing that it is giving that opens the door to receive in abundance. We don’t give merely so that we can receive, but we give with willing hearts as we trust that as we bless others, we will be blessed in return.
A Free Devotional for the Times When You Want a Break from Life:
Lastly, I have a gift for you. Would you like to connect with God in ways that breathe fresh life into your weary soul? The Weary Woman’s 20-Day Devotional is my free online devotional to help you connect with God in your worn and weary seasons. You will find 20 daily readings to help you find refreshment in God’s presence. Click here and I’ll send it to your email inbox today!
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Calling All Moms and Daughters!
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