Good morning…
“I feel like a tired Tigger,” she said as we shared a walk and talk in yesterday’s chilly sun. “I would love to bounce forward like you said in your blog today, but I just feel like I am bouncing up and down like Tigger, bounce, bounce, bounce, but I’m not going anywhere. It’s exhausting to spend so much energy not moving forward yet.”
“Undone. That word undoes me.” She quoted a line she loved from yesterday’s blog. “Maybe you and I are more alike than I thought. Being undone undoes me too.” I would guess living undone, in suspense and incomplete, exhausts many of us right about now, as we near the first anniversary of “shelter-in-place.”
We all face different kinds of exhaustion.
Physical exhaustion – many essential workers have been feeling like tired Tiggers most every day for nearly a year. Those dealing with difficult diagnoses, grueling treatments, or working overtime to make fraying ends meet know the physical exhaustion of bouncing up and down without a clear sense of forward movement.
Emotional exhaustion – so many are grieving great losses, relationally, financially, academically, politically, racially. Grieving tired Tiggers may be struggling with isolation, loneliness, depression, and the unsettled anxiety of wondering, “How will I ever move forward into a life I love again?”
Spiritual exhaustion – collectively many of us are facing an existential crisis as we are cut off from familiar sources of comfort. “What has happened to the purpose, choice, and freedom in life?” “God, what are You up?” “How am I to adapt to the loss of safety, security, and a clear sense of meaning in my daily life?” Tiggers who bounce up and down, up and down, fixated on often unanswerable questions begin to grow spiritually exhausted.
All types of exhaustion serve a delightfully divine purpose, whispering to our soul: “Stop. Breathe. Be present where your feet are.”
French philosopher, journalist, and author Albert Camus argued that the ability to have passion for what could otherwise be considered a meaningless life reflects an appreciation for life itself. We each are invited to cultivate gratitude for the God who gives, sustains, and expands vibrant life. When we choose to stop trying to live for the end, to push forward unhindered to our “goal,” and instead choose to start living for the act of “being” alive, noticing beauty, glimpsing God’s goodness, then our lives become about living fully in the now, choosing integrity amid life’s inequalities, and being passionately engaged within the challenging circumstances surrounding us as tired Tiggers.
Maybe our exhaustion is actually a gift in disguise, leading us to stop mindlessly bouncing, bouncing, bouncing, as we begin settling down into the palpable power of the invisible I AM. Like a skipping stone gradually drops to rest at peace in the murky unknown, when we fall down into God, God grows up in us. Right here, right now, we are given strength for the moment at hand.
As we tired Tiggers sink deep into an awareness of God’s ever-presence, we begin to rest in the wisdom shared by the apostle Paul: I know what it means to lack, and I know what it means to experience overwhelming abundance. For I’m trained in the secret of overcoming all things, whether in fullness or in hunger. And I find that the strength of Christ’s explosive power infuses me to conquer every difficulty (Philippians 4:12-13, TPT).
May the living Christ infuse each of us tired Tiggers with peaceful power as we sink into God this Sabbath morning.
“Be still, be calm, see, and understand I am the True God. I am honored among all the nations. I am honored over all the earth” (Psalm 46:10, VOICE).
…Sue…
