"my soul is getting tired"...
As
I read these words of a friend, I sighed and my heart sank a bit ...
I
whispered a prayer for the exasperation she felt; for the struggle and hurt
involved as someone in her life continued acting on the decision to remove themselves
from her life - making the choice to turn their back. Because of the other's misperceptions...
expectations ... unwillingness ... self righteousness ... or perhaps it is due
to the other's own hurts --- restoration, rebuilding, trust, and amends are
left to fade away and become impossibilities.
This is not what her heart and her soul want. Time, energy, emotion, love, self investment have resulted in weariness.
Weary.
To
be physically, mentally or emotionally exhausted. Strained. Fatigued. Tired.
Worn out. Indifferent.
Weariness.
To
be honest - a big reason why my heart sank in reading my friend's words is
because I've been struggling with weariness as well.
Weariness.
It
seems like it is all too familiar to quite a few people --- obligations,
chronic illness, diagnosis for loved ones, priorities vying for attention,
unresolved relationships, struggles, loneliness despite being surrounded by others,
giving without receiving a return... difficulties. The Word tells us "in this world you will have trouble".
Statement of fact. Which means weariness will occur. It's inevitable ... an unfortunate certainty.
So
then, are we to be left in a continuous struggle always feeling fatigued as we
wear ourselves out trying over and over, unsuccessfully to prioritize, meet
obligations, giving over and over again of ourselves until we are left with
nothing but indifference and exhaustion?
I've
learned that I can't overcome the weariness on my own.
I will never be able to meet all the obligations I perceive life has given me. There is no such thing as being on top of it
all. Our expectations in life, or of
other's for that matter, cannot be fully met.
True satisfaction, life neatly wrapped with a bow, can't happen as a
result of our own determination or our efforts. Control of life, its circumstances or the
people in it, is an illusion.
"In
this world you will have trouble...
but
take heart! I have overcome the world (John 16:33). "Here in lies the relief.
There is a place we can find relief - “The Sovereign LORD has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed (Isaiah 50:4)."
There is One who can help - ”He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak (Isaiah 40:29)." He "will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint (Jeremiah 31:25)".
When we turn our focus from our trouble or from the actions of others to the One who holds us in the palm of His hand our strength will be renewed. We can cry out with the psalmist - "My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your Word (Psalm 1199:28)". Our cries will be answered and " those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint (Isaiah 40:31)".
No more weariness... doesn't that sound good? That is my prayer for you!
Matt. 11:28 - “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give
you rest."
