Longing For Low-Maintenance

Oh how I wish my life was low-maintenance.  All of it.

• I wish my husband and I always got along.
• I wish my kids didn’t require so much of my emotional and physical energy.
• I wish the money tree behind our house produced so I didn’t have to work.
  
• I wish my bills would be automatically paid by the money-tree-keeper.
• I wish someone else had to make the decisions… but ones I agreed with.
  
• I wish laundry would miraculously do itself.
• I wish dinner was delivered each night (anyone want to make that happen?).

My life can take so much of me that I sometimes find it overwhelming and exhausting.  There are times I just want to be left alone by all the people, issues and struggles that float in and out of my world.  I want my family and friends to put on their big-girl/big-boy undies and handle their own stuff.

I am longing for low maintenance because life can just take too much of me.

And when they don’t… when I have to intervene… I have a tendency to become downright resentful.  I get tired of carrying my burdens and the burdens of others because they weigh so heavily on my shoulders.

And then I run across Matthew 11:28.  I love God’s timing!  Well, most of the time anyway.  It reads…  “Come to me, all who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest.”

What an offer, yes?

You know what, that’s me right now.  I am tired of carrying “stuff.”  Life is hard.  Relationships are hard.  Pressing through our shortcomings is hard.  Holding others together is hard.

But it’s not only me.  My family and my friends are experiencing the same reality.  Like mine, their issues are big and scary and life-altering and joy-draining.

Friends, what burdens are you carrying right now?

• Are you watching your marriage crumble and feel hopeless to fix it?
• Have you been given a diagnosis that doesn’t appear to have a happy outcome?
• Do you have a friendship that is so toxic it’s sucking the life out of you?
• Are you struggling to dig your way out of an oppressive financial situation?
• Do you have a child who is dabbling in drugs, alcohol or some off-beat religion?
• Is there a secret that is getting harder and harder to keep silent?
• Are you dealing with a huge family betrayal and find yourself being eaten alive with anger?

I wonder why then, if our burdens are so heavy, are we still carrying them alone when we have a loving God willing and ready do it for us?

Sometimes we are dense.

You see friends… as long as we place these burdens on our shoulders to haul around, we’re going to be weary, resentful, angry, fearful, sad and annoyed.

In Matthew 11:28, Jesus is essentially giving us a “get out of jail free” card.  He is offering to free us from the load we are carrying.  You see, we were never meant to carry them ourselves.  We can’t.  We just aren’t equipped to do it.

From the beginning, the plan has always been for us to cast those burdens onto Him.

And as a bonus, He’ll give us rest when we do!  In other words, we will receive His promise of love, healing and peace.

• We don’t have to fix it.
• We don’t have to have all the answers.
• We don’t have to make it all go away.

Our part is to hand them over to God and press in, trusting and resting in His arms.

You know, maybe we really can have a low-maintenance life.

©2011 careyscotttalks.com

Let’s Connect! Subscribe to this blog,  Follow me on Twitter, Book Me to speak at your event, or Like my Facebook Fan Page