Many times I’ve felt the pressures of being ‘overwhelmed’. That moment when one-too-many commitments hits our already full schedules. The frantic pulse and shallow breaths of an ‘almost’ panic-attack as our stomach roils with dread, crazy days when we realize we literally lack the time to stop & eat.
Stretched beyond what we thought we could do… we stumble and fumble our way through it, hoping that in the end we’ll somehow cover every base and detail.
That’s OK when it’s a day or two out of each month…but when it piles up into weeks of crazy, we start to feel the pressure of a life out of control. A nearly panicked state of existence that pushes us to the limit and then beyond.
As believers we share a commitment to Christ, a common-bond that links us with each other in ways we don’t always realize or appreciate. It’s in these insanely busy and overwhelming moments that we find out… we’re not in this alone. We have help.
Of course we know ‘theoretically’ the ageless gospel truth… ‘Christ will never leave us or forsake us‘, but it’s a bewildering moment when we understand that “Christ’ in the gospel scenario is ‘you’ and ‘me’. The powerful truth of friendship, soaked in the Holy Spirit which provides the source of a Christian’s steadfast commitment to help whenever someone is in need.
Recently I’ve felt all of these emotions anew and experienced the powerlessness of running at red-line and realizing there was nothing I could do to slow life down. It was into this hyperactive mix that my fellow Christians and friends willingly dived right in.
I’m sure it’s wasn’t my winning personality :) or saint-like life that inspired such sacrifice from others…but rather the connection of the Holy Spirit among our community of faith. The shared sensitivity of those who love and care for each other, bringing keen awareness to the needs we have, fueling a genuine desire to serve, to help. And as of recently…that need has been mine.
The response of our church to the practical needs among us is truly inspiring. Not in the good Christians ‘duty’ kind of way, but in the heroic and sincere effort of giving freely when feeling empty, of not waiting to serve until their schedules cleared but the extraordinary act of putting the needs of others above their own.
It’s in this moment, that I see Christ, active and alive in the sweat and tears of life, when we stop what we’re busy with to give sacrificially without any expectation of a return.
Parents and friends, I believe it takes a church (not the building, but the people in it) to keep us and our hope alive, for the self-contained and proud… this is a hard truth. For the broken and overwhelmed, it is a comfort that binds us together.
As you navigate your life, let me encourage you to become active in your local body of Christian believers. Trying to go it on your own is always an option for surviving but it’s certainly not a good path to living.
