I woke up tired and grumpy. The kids have been bickering most of the morning as they’ve tried to bake cookies together. Did I mention it’s flooding rain? I’ve tried to change my outlook, getting busy with chores around the house, in an effort to create some positive momentum. I’ve folded laundry. Washed dishes. Cleaned the kitchen.
Still, if I’m being honest, my attitude stinks. The near-constant noise and elevated voices are grating on my nerves today and mostly I want to sequester myself in my closet with a good book and a locked door.
But since that’s not in the cards, we carry on.
I sat just now, eating a big spoonful of peanut butter icing, and began to scroll my phone, checking the news, glancing at social media, doing anything to distract me from my present funk. And though both the icing and the scrolling offered a very temporary (and minimal) reprieve, the truth is neither can do anything about the condition of my heart.
The heart—the soul—that is God’s work. And though we can work and strive and shop and eat and drink and whatever else we turn to, to fill that dissatisfaction inside, all in an effort to numb and distract, there is ultimately only one answer for what ails the human condition.
Jesus.
So I put down my phone and I prayed. I told God all the things. I asked him for help. I took some time to recenter by coming back to my ultimate source of peace, strength, and joy.
Friends, we can’t do it without God. All the distractions in the world are just that—distractions. And ultimately they only leave us emptier than before.
If your day hasn’t gotten off to a great start, it’s okay. It happens. But come home to the One who created you, the One who loves you even when you feel unlovable, the One who invites you just as you are.
He alone can give you strength.
He alone can give you rest
