It doesn’t happen often, but every once in a while I desire nothing more than totally collapsing onto my bed and leaving the world for no less than eight hours – no matter what time of day. I would worry that maybe I was turning away from God in those moments, by turning to escape rather than His embrace. But then I remembered that all-important lesson from Genesis: He Rested. Or from a more sorrowful perspective: even Jesus fell while carrying the burden of His cross.
As a youth ministry volunteer, I find my Sundays to be very busy. As a full-time student, so are my Saturdays and most evenings. As full-time worker, so are my weekdays. God brought me to this busy time in my life, so I trust he’ll bring me through it, too. But I also know that He knows I can handle it, because he wanted to be certain that I had learned a very important lesson first: limitations.
It has taken my whole lifetime to learn that there is a limit to how much I can do at once. Like computers only have so much RAM and how closets only have so much space, I too have a limit on how big of a load I can handle.
Unfortunately, just because I know where the limit is, doesn’t mean I avoid crossing it 100% of the time. That’s where those moments of wishing to be suggled up in bed come into play.
But it’s OK.
Seriously, ya’ll. It’s okay to be pushed too far. Just recognize it and do whatever it takes to get back on track.
For me, than means a good, long rest. For you that might mean a tension-reducing workout, or a muscle-soothing bubble bath… I could go on. Chances are, you already know what it is that renews you like nothing else. The most important thing is that you take the time to do it.
Taking care of yourself physical health and emotion health goes a long way in taking care of your spiritual health, too. God has not made us indestructible beings. Rather, He made us creatures of balance. So, when you’ve gone too far, don’t continue being unwell. Just like taking a sick day for illness, you need to do whatever it takes to get spiritually healthy, too.
Photo via Flickr.
