Enough!!!

Have you ever felt like you've got so many balls up in the air that at any given moment everything will just go flying off into different directions? That you're responsible for this ever-expanding, filmy-thin bubble that, with one wrong turn, is going to pop? Do you ever feel like you just want to throw your hands up in the air with abandon, let everything fall where it may, scream "to hell with it all" and race off into the sunset? (Of course you'd still have to take your family into the sunset with you, because what good would life be without them anyways? But still. I'm sure you get my point.)

I'm almost there.

Sometimes when people are pressed they'll say, "If it's not one thing, it's another." What if it's five others? Or six? Or seven?

The other thing I often hear people say is, "God doesn't give us any more than we can handle."

Bull. I've never liked that sentiment. It pretty clearly sends the message that all this "stuff" is from God. The God I know and love gives life and gives it abundantly. When things start pressing in and smothering, it sure doesn't feel like God to me. I don't think this is how He meant for life to feel.

In the face of challenge, there's only one thing I've ever heard that feels like life to me.

I Am.

It's probably the shortest complete sentence ever, but, Oh! How complete it is! In our mode of do-it-all and be-it-all, it'd be tempting to want to complete the sentence with something, anything. But, that's beside the point. I think He left it open-ended on purpose. That's the only way it can really be complete.

I Am.

Your place of refuge. Your provider. Your ever-present help in time of need. The beginning. The end. Your shepherd. The one who calms storms with His word. The one who brings life with His word. The way. The truth. The life.

It's amazing just how much can be communicated with two little words, if you believe them.

Everything that I need, the solution to every trial, is found in Him.

By Jesus' own example, when the crowds started to press in on Him, He left. So why can't/won't we do the same? What's the difference? His obligations and commitments were so much more important than ours. If He was able to drop everything and retreat to a place of rest, in His Father's presence, then why can't I? Why is it that meeting with my clients, doing my work, organizing a birthday party, cleaning my house (etc.) are all so pressing that they can't be put off? And, really, that's beside the point. Because who am I to worry about all my "to do-s" when there are so many others just longing to find shelter from the wind and the cold, or wondering when they will eat again? Why is it that my truly trivial worries seem so all-consuming?

Priorities, I guess. I don't want to acknowledge that, though, because if that's the case, then mine are most certainly out of whack. I think that a serious reality check is in order, followed by a very thorough dose of I Am.