Jn 16:13
When you're watching an episode or two of The Great British Baking Show every afternoon, you start to hear your life narrated in a refined English accent. You also start to imagine new reality shows like The Great American Laundry Show in which contestants compete at re-whitening a set of soiled cloth diapers, or The Great International Errand Show in which ordinary shoppers from around the world plan out the best possible routes on a busy Saturday in which to accomplish all their necessary errands. These are shows I could win. But alas, there are no prizes for washing three baskets of laundry in one afternoon or completing all morning stops before the toddler has a needs-a-nap breakdown.
On the positive side, reality shows in which people bake sweet desserts topped with glazes and custards and jams and drizzles, is almost as therapeutic as eating said desserts, so the calming effect on ordinary life is surprisingly noticeable.
In the absence of baking shows, you can rely on local Halloween parades to excel at providing abundant tootsie rolls to satisfy a sweet tooth for a few days. And if that still doesn't work, try chocolate chip banana bread or apple pecan cookies, two delicious things I baked this week.
Aside from just the yummy stuff, fall has been sweet to us this week. After Monday's first frost, I braced myself for a frigid week. But it warmed up enough later in the week to rake leaves without a sweatshirt. Nights are still cool, but extra blankets on the bed have kept us toasty at night. I reorganized the kitchen to put things in more practical places. My little sister celebrated a birthday. We hosted friends for Sunday afternoon lunch.
These are sweets, good for the soul. Yet somehow, in the middle of all this, I'm feeling burnt out. End of month means bills are due, tasks at work increasingly fragment my brain, homeowning wearies constantly. The list of things I need to keep in mental order and do on time and successfully remember has seemed so long this week, that I've at times felt hopeless. For me this week, the sweetness was shallow compared to the exhaustion that ran so deep.
I've been encouraged by a few things, though, and I look to them for hope again this week:
1. Meeting the Lord in prayer. Where else but with Him can we find new perspective?
2. The knowledge that someday all that overwhelms me will be gone forever.
3. An intentional restoration of some margin back into my overcrowded life.
If you're also feeling not merely stretched, but snapped, go with confidence to the One who can mend what is broken. Ask for His healing touch of grace and watch the sweetness He will bring back into your soured days.
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