When I was praying with our prayer group this week, I was struck freshly by the joy that came in realizing we each have a unique place in God's story. Becoming and being more fully the self that God designed allows us to live our purpose without feeling burdened and weighted down by it.
When I was a teenager and into my twenties, I had an idea that I was supposed to put others before myself which fit well with my Pleaser ways. But I often went to bed empty, weary and teary wondering where the abundant life was that Jesus talked about.
I had a martyr syndrome that made considering my own needs feel selfish. Boundaries taught me that I was not carrying my own needs, preferences, managing my own emotions and health. Instead I was trying to take responsibility for others that leaned on me and were happy to have me carry them. This was a recipe for burnout!
The image I got this week was inspired by the scripture:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 NIV
I was struck by how the burden is only light when we live out of our shape and passion and pull next to the One who can do imaginably more than all we ask or imagine. This world is full of pressure to be more, do more, comparisons that make us wonder why we can't keep up.
Maybe the reason we can't keep up, is because we are trying to be like someone else. Jesus invites us alongside His movements of compassion and justice. The yoke is already moving with God's energy and passion, we are invited to just slip into the place made just for us. The space only we can fill. The part of God's story that we are beckoned into that will satisfy the deepest longings of our soul for purpose, passion, belonging and healthy service. We are needed and God has the best ideas about where we fit!
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