Journal Entry ~ 01/02/18

9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. - Galatians 6:9-10

I’ve always loved this verse - it’s reads like a pep talk at the beginning of a big game. It’s the perfect verse to start off a new year - don’t give up, don’t grow tired, keep doing good, keep pressing on.  There’s this sense of locking arms with others, like we’re all in this together. We can do this if we just don’t give up. 

It starts with “Let us not grow weary”.  Great encouragement, but we all grow tired, don’t we?  Are we just supposed to ignore our weariness or press through it?  There are some days when we’ve had enough and we just don’t have the energy to keep going. I have a whole new appreciation of fatigue after experiencing cancer treatment. There are days where the weariness just takes over, and I have no choice but to lay down and rest. I used to be the person who powers through fatigue or illness fairly easily, but then I experienced this new level of exhaustion - a weariness that is more powerful than I am. It’s a fatigue that comes on so strongly I’ve learned to give in and rest when I feel it. 

I think it’s important to read that into this verse. We all grow weary - it’s not telling us to power through our weariness and ignore it. We are supposed to rest.  In fact, we are instructed in many other places in scripture to rest. When we are tired, we need to take a break. It’s important to both our physical health and our spiritual strength to have regular times of rest. God rested on the 7th day as a way to model to us we need to build rest into our schedules, and there are plenty of examples of Jesus taking a break from His ministry work. The point is not that we won’t grow weary, it’s that we must never get tired of doing God’s work. And to be able to continue to do God’s work with the same energy and vigor of a new believer, we need to be still and rest in Him regularly. 

That being said, it’s also important to evaluate why we’re feeling weary.  We can exhaust ourselves with so many futile activities. Our culture has taught us the more we have packed into our schedules, the more value we have.  We have such a tendency to wear ourselves out with a huge list of all the things we need to accomplish in order to feel worthy, when the reality is God didn’t call us to do most of those things. You may be like me - without even meaning to, I can fill my schedule with things I think are on His list for me, but deep down, I discover I’m just working to prove I’m worthy. Trying to work for your own worthiness is exhausting, trying to prove yourself to God or man will make you weary. This isn’t the weariness Paul is talking about at all in his letter to the Galatians. To relieve us of this weariness, we just need to stop the chaos.  We need to make sure what’s on our lists of things to do comes from Him.

God has a way of making us rest when we’ve exhausted ourselves - either we find rest, or He will make us lie down in green pastures to rest. Rest is an important part of continuing to do His work with energy. We must not grow weary of doing His work, but sometimes that means we need to rest in Him in order to continue. If you’re tired of doing His work, it’s time to take a break and evaluate where you need rest. 

Press on ~ you are loved 💗

Many of you know I have been trying to raise money to replace the uncomfortable caregiver's chairs in the infusion center at Illinois Cancer Specialists.  It is important to me that our caregivers are able to sit comfortably for hours while we receive our chemo treatments ~ we need our caregivers to be at their best so they can care for us at our worst.  Please consider donating ~ every little bit helps!  Here is the link:

 https://www.gofundme.com/chair4caregivers.  Thank you so much!!