Would you rather listen than read? Click the player below to listen to a reading of today’s devotion. All devotions are also available on iTunes for your convenience. CLICK HERE to subscribe!
Take a Break
At the time of writing—the election was still being disputed. It still may be. If so, our encouragement today is to take a break.
If the election has been decided by the time you are reading this, there are other issues at play that need to be addressed. Our advice today: take a break.
I crawled under the table and lay my head on the cold break room floor. Footsteps approached, and I knew that I was about to meet the head of the whole Ontario UPS Air Hub. I wasn’t meeting him to be interviewed for a promotion. I wasn’t meeting him casually.
He was asked to descend from his office to convince a young man to go home or get to work. That young man was me. I haven’t ever sucked my thumb, but I’ve never been closer than that moment.
I was in the midst of trying to grow up really fast. Donia and I were engaged, and I sought out a job at UPS because they paid a decent wage, provided tuition reimbursement, and would reward hard working young people with management positions. In a matter of months, Donia and I would be married, and I felt the need to position myself to provide for us.
My intentions were good.
But, I was hired for the ‘Intra-Sort’ that began each weekday at 10:30pm. I would work until 2:30-3am. Then I would drive 30-40 minutes back to my apartment. And then drag myself out of bed at 6:30am for morning classes. And then do homework. And then try to sleep somewhere before leaving around 9:30pm for work.
Repeat.
I found myself on the cold break room floor because I was over my head. Anxiety coursed through me. I couldn’t keep up with classes, I couldn’t focus at work, and everything seemed insurmountable.
I needed a break.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have the wherewithal to make a proactive choice for my betterment. I was convinced that working for UPS was the only option I had. Consequently, I remained in a pattern of life that led me under a table making a fool of myself in front of a man who had never been more sure of someone’s management potential.
2020 has been so difficult. I wrote to a friend today:
I am finding myself a bit uninspired. Maybe this morning I am fatigued because the supposed election results are yet another echo of what 2020 has been all about: Uncertainty.
We have all endured a lot of uncertainty. It eats at our souls. It tears at our patience. It squeezes us. Some of us cope with that uncertainty by speculating, arguing, or prognosticating. In the midst of an unclear future, talking more about the issues makes us feel like we are doing something.
But, maybe the best thing we can do is: rest. Our opinions aren’t needed. Our focus on the arguments isn’t helping. Our minds cannot handle day after day of the rhetoric, hubris and fear mongering.
Take a break.
And, while you’re away from the noise—fill your heart with hope.
1 Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot— yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root. 2 And the Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. 3 He will delight in obeying the LORD. He will not judge by appearance nor make a decision based on hearsay. 4 He will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited. The earth will shake at the force of his word, and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked. 5 He will wear righteousness like a belt and truth like an undergarment. 6 In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard will lie down with the baby goat. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion, and a little child will lead them all. 7 The cow will graze near the bear. The cub and the calf will lie down together. The lion will eat hay like a cow. 8 The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra. Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes without harm. 9 Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for as the waters fill the sea, so the earth will be filled with people who know the LORD.
Isaiah 11:1–9 (NLT)
