The better way.

why me?
seriously.
hope? i need it.
fret. stress. worry.
soul so unsatisfied.
peace? what’s that?
so jumbled up inside.
heart longing for more.
emotions all over the place.
so connected to circumstance.
striving.  performing.  perfection.
why do i have to work so hard for it?
for anything. for everything. for something.
confident much?  yeah, i am.  on the outside that is.
what’s all this hustle for, again? i can’t even remember now.
just. so. tired. there’s got to be a better way.  do you know of one?

I remember years of feeling this way. Can you relate? The racing mind, the weariness of life, the world with all of its pressures, demands and expectations, the weight of burdens that aren’t yours to carry, the unfulfilled longings and unmet desires, the working so hard but coming up short, the unexpected challenges and trials, the loss, the struggles, the disappointments... it all can be so heavy, especially if you’re trying to shoulder it on your own.  It’s just way too much to bear; in fact, you weren’t even designed to.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28

All of the fretting and striving in the world will not add one single second to your life.  All of the endless doing and performing will surely leave your soul empty rather than full.  All of the emotions that go up and down and side to side from this circumstance to that one will eventually wear you down.  It can just get so tiring… always pulling it together on the outside hoping to make up for what’s on the inside.  There’s just no end in sight. Ugh… what a dreadful thought.

[But] You, God, are my God… earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land where there is no water.
Psalm 63:1

The truth is that the soul will never stop yearning and longing and trying to find its way as it travels from dry land to parched land and back again. The heart will always long for more until we choose to lay down our heaviness at the feet of the One who bears a lighter load.  Every single worry, every fretful thought, every false idea of who we think we need to be, every demand we place on ourselves, all of the striving we do to reach some imaginary place of contentment and all of the jumbles we carry around on the inside…  there’s really only one way to unravel it all…. and that way is Jesus.

He’s the order to all of the messiness.  He’s the piece (and the peace) that’s missing from every spent soul.  He is the way to getting it all sorted out…. and He is that better way your heart’s been longing for.

#Jesus.  He’s always the answer.  He’s always the better way.

♥

Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;
and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
    and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear,
and come to me;  hear, that your soul may live….
Isaiah 55:1-3