Good morning…
As we got together for lunch and caught up on each others’ lives, one friend said, “Sue, you look really tired.” Part of me felt a bit offended, “Do I really look that bad?” Then the rest of me began to unload.
I told my friends I am exhausted from pushing to finish another graduate school paper, due tonight at 5:00 pm. I shared honestly how hard it has been to be a wife and a mother of four, a full time Women’s Ministry Director and a close friend to many, AND a dyslexic/ADD graduate student in Spiritual Direction, after being out of school for nearly thirty years.
Whenever I get to the final days before a paper is due, I droop beneath the weight of “Why am I doing this?” “How will these words come together before the deadline?” “Will I really be able to complete this intense, two year program?” The “committee in my head” hosts a doubt-filled debate.
Yet in the wee hours of this morning, as I write and read, write more and reread, my heart is drawn to my favorite quote.
“…the resurrected Lord…walks through the world. He invites us to place our confidence in Him. Those who rely on Him believe that He knows how to live and will pour His life into us as we “take His yoke – and learn from Him, for He is gentle and humble in heart” (Matthew 11:29). To take His yoke means to join Him in His work, making our work His work. To trust Him is to understand that total immersion in what He is doing with our life is the best thing that could ever happen to us. As apprentices of Christ we are not learning how to do some special religious activity, but how to live every moment of our lives from the reality of God’s kingdom. I am learning how to live my actual life as Jesus would if he were me.” (Dallas Willard’s introduction of Jan Johnson’s When the Soul Listens, p. 7)
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 (Matthew 11:28-29, NLT).
Total immersion in what Jesus is doing with my life is the best thing that could have ever happened to me.
…Sue…
