If You're Feeling Weighed Down Today, You've Got Company
Some days my work flows with seemingly little effort. I pursue my daily objectives and feel "free" as I go about my business. Other days, it feels like I'm working through some sort of thick sludge. Everything I try to do either takes forever or feels like it's just the hardest or most unpleasant thing I've ever had to do. It's like something's either weighing on me or somehow holding me back.
Now, the right thing to do when I feel this way - when I feel a something weighing me down or holding me back - is to pray, to ask for God's help, then just go back to work. I wish I could say that's what I typically do. It would certainly make the day easier. Of course, that would probably be a sign of holiness, that being able to just turn to God for help. I suppose that's why I usually don't do it.
Instead, I get all wrapped up in myself.
Maybe I focus on how I feel. I'm tired because I've been working really hard lately. Or maybe I didn't sleep well the night before. I start thinking that it would be great if you could wake up refreshed and full of energy every day. Ah, if only I was one of those upbeat types you meet who seem to have this big reserve of energy they draw on all day. Me, I'm looking for an extra cup of coffee.
Maybe some worry is weighing on my mind or some anxiety is zapping my energy that day. And there doesn't have to be any "real" worry involved. When you're a worrier, you can always find something to worry about.
Or maybe it's the work itself that's dragging me down. I don't especially like certain kinds of work that involves lots of detail. It always strikes me as a waste of my precious time. Right now, I've got to deal with compliance issues in my business. This time it's part of an annual filing I do every year. Of course, the requirements have been increased this year (leave it to the government!) and what I have to do will take more time, effort, and maybe even expense. But its not like I have a choice. Arrggghhh! I hate it!
Well, I could go on, but you probably get the point. And unless you're one of those creatures who seem to let every problem just roll off their backs and always seem bright and upbeat all the time, you may get stuck some days with that weighed-down feeling yourself.
Here's the bad news: I think this means I'm not holy. I'm not ready for Heaven. Mind you, it's not that I'm surprised. It's not like I've been walking around thinking I'm a saint or anything. But that's just the point. I should be a saint - or at least striving to be one every day. It doesn't seem like I'm doing that when I let myself get waylaid by these feelings, does it?
The good news is there's a way out. And it's not all that hard, really. But it takes an act of will. And while an act of will is pretty simple in concept, it sometimes seems pretty hard to actually do. The simple part is this: pray. Simple enough. So why don't I just pray when I get in this jam?
Well, it's not exactly that I don't want to pray. It's that I just don't think of it. It doesn't dawn on me to just stop for a second and ask for God's help, then go back to work. Why? Well, that's why I said I think I'm not holy - yet.
So I guess what it comes down to is that becoming holy - for most of us - takes time and effort. For most of us, it'll be a daily grind where we have to remember stuff like calling on Him when we get stuck or weighed down in our work. It'll be in those little moments of each day where we face some sort of obstacle, some sort of difficulty, that He'll be there waiting for us to ask for His help - to not just rely ourselves.
The thing is, you've got to make sure you don't let yourself get wrapped up in yourself. You've got to forget about yourself and whatever is weighing you down, and just go straight to Him for help.
Now, the right thing to do when I feel this way - when I feel a something weighing me down or holding me back - is to pray, to ask for God's help, then just go back to work. I wish I could say that's what I typically do. It would certainly make the day easier. Of course, that would probably be a sign of holiness, that being able to just turn to God for help. I suppose that's why I usually don't do it.
Instead, I get all wrapped up in myself.
Maybe I focus on how I feel. I'm tired because I've been working really hard lately. Or maybe I didn't sleep well the night before. I start thinking that it would be great if you could wake up refreshed and full of energy every day. Ah, if only I was one of those upbeat types you meet who seem to have this big reserve of energy they draw on all day. Me, I'm looking for an extra cup of coffee.
Maybe some worry is weighing on my mind or some anxiety is zapping my energy that day. And there doesn't have to be any "real" worry involved. When you're a worrier, you can always find something to worry about.
Or maybe it's the work itself that's dragging me down. I don't especially like certain kinds of work that involves lots of detail. It always strikes me as a waste of my precious time. Right now, I've got to deal with compliance issues in my business. This time it's part of an annual filing I do every year. Of course, the requirements have been increased this year (leave it to the government!) and what I have to do will take more time, effort, and maybe even expense. But its not like I have a choice. Arrggghhh! I hate it!
Well, I could go on, but you probably get the point. And unless you're one of those creatures who seem to let every problem just roll off their backs and always seem bright and upbeat all the time, you may get stuck some days with that weighed-down feeling yourself.
Here's the bad news: I think this means I'm not holy. I'm not ready for Heaven. Mind you, it's not that I'm surprised. It's not like I've been walking around thinking I'm a saint or anything. But that's just the point. I should be a saint - or at least striving to be one every day. It doesn't seem like I'm doing that when I let myself get waylaid by these feelings, does it?
The good news is there's a way out. And it's not all that hard, really. But it takes an act of will. And while an act of will is pretty simple in concept, it sometimes seems pretty hard to actually do. The simple part is this: pray. Simple enough. So why don't I just pray when I get in this jam?
Well, it's not exactly that I don't want to pray. It's that I just don't think of it. It doesn't dawn on me to just stop for a second and ask for God's help, then go back to work. Why? Well, that's why I said I think I'm not holy - yet.
So I guess what it comes down to is that becoming holy - for most of us - takes time and effort. For most of us, it'll be a daily grind where we have to remember stuff like calling on Him when we get stuck or weighed down in our work. It'll be in those little moments of each day where we face some sort of obstacle, some sort of difficulty, that He'll be there waiting for us to ask for His help - to not just rely ourselves.
The thing is, you've got to make sure you don't let yourself get wrapped up in yourself. You've got to forget about yourself and whatever is weighing you down, and just go straight to Him for help.
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