Good morning, friends, and welcome to a small pause to breathe, here…
For any of you feeling very, very tired, you are not alone. I’ve spoken to so many people over the last couple weeks who have expressed exhaustion. A bone deep, soul-level fatigue….
To be honest, I am among them. Moving my mom in mid-march was probably the start of it, followed by a succession of other things with travel, sick kids, having my partner away for a while…You don’t need my laundry list of all the things I point to as to why I’m tried — you have your own, and likely more. There are the personal reasons we are tired, but then we know there is an existential exhaustion from the state of so much around us right now. I can safely assume each of you reading is a compassionate and justice-seeking person (you wouldn’t be here otherwise) and so the especially challenging landscape of the world right now is taking your energy. You are responding at a somatic level, even when you don’t recognize it.
It sounds extreme to say I felt a bit of collapse last week when my husband returned home, but I did, because I could. And here we are, just entering the month of May, which for many of you — especially if you have school age children in the house — is just an intense time (#maycember).
I found myself very drawn to a well-known Scripture passage, but one I’ve never yearned for as deeply as I am in this season.
It’s Jesus’ words in Matthew 11. Can we stop and picture him looking at us with a gentle, earnest, maybe even pleading expression, saying these words?
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (Matthew 11:28-30, The Message, emphasis mine)
These words make something in my soul loosen. And in fact, that is how I am thinking about the kind of rest Jesus talks about. Not simply ceasing from buzzing around with our normal activities, but an unwinding…letting ourselves turn slowly in a different direction, releasing the responsibilities and stresses that spooled us up. It’s living by “unforced rhythms of grace” rather than an agenda of I-can’t-say-no items. A way to live “freely and lightly” rather than burdened and bitter.
Jesus’ invitation is not just about taking a break. It’s about a whole different posture to life. What would it be like to live a life you never felt you needed to “escape” from? Sometimes what we need is a pause, yes, but I think what most of us are yearning for right now is a deep renewal, followed by a daily pattern of life that is self-renewing. A way to embrace our lives that is gratefully reflective rather than “responsible.” A recharging of and reconnection with our true selves.
Along those lines, I think the reason we are often exhausted is because we have left ourselves behind in order to care for the needs, desires, and emotions of others. And when we don’t care for ourselves, we deplete, and then every single thing — even the things you want to do and the people you love the most — start to feel like work.
Two tangible call-back moments for me this last week along those lines—
*A friend who told me “the only thing you need to do is love….everything else is frosting on the cake.”
*My eight-year-old who was laying on my bed watching me fuss over fixing a project and simply said, “nothing’s perfect, mom.”
Love.
Release perfection.
The rest and renewal Jesus promises here are, at a foundational level, a return to ourselves, which is always a return to Christ’s spirit within us, too. There is nothing we need more to do than to rest in the love that is at the core of us, and to find in that slow and warm space a refuge filled with the many miracles we were too busy to notice before.
So this week, friends, come back to love. Come back to yourself. Unwind and unspool. Watch, walk, and learn from Jesus, who is “gentle and humble in heart” (Matthew 11).
And find rest for your soul.
Thank you for taking a soul-pause and reading Monday Manna.💛 This is a reader-supported publication and your support makes this creative work possible. I’m so grateful to be able to make this offering through the generosity of this community. If this post moved you, please consider becoming a paid or free subscriber.
A Prayer
Normally I share a prayer from my book, Ash and Starlight, but this week, I need to share Jan Richardson’s blessing for all of us in need of rest. From her book, How the Stars Get In Your Bones: A Book of Blessings (p.30-31).
Blessing of Rest
Curl this blessing
beneath your head
for a pillow.
Wrap it about yourself
for a blanket.
Lay it across your eyes
and for this moment,
cease thinking about
what comes next,
what you will do
when you rise.
Let this blessing
gather itself to you
like the stillness
that descends
between your heartbeats,
the silence that comes
so briefly
but with a constancy
on which
your life depends.
Settle yourself into the quiet
this blessing brings,
the hand it lays
upon your brown,
the whispered word
it breathes into
your ear,
telling you
all shall be well,
and all shall be well,
and you can rest
now.
Do you know someone who would be encouraged by this? This post is public so feel free to share it. 🦋
Something that nourished me recently…
*I keep this picture above my desk, and it embodies renewal to me. A shot from Lake Michigan….drink it in.
*We did a “Maker’s Fair” at church where people set up tables with things they make! It was such a fun event, and I highly recommend it. There was everything from legos and duplos (which my youngest did at our shared table) to a beautiful beaded Christmas tree to scrabooks to squiggle art. Such a fun thing for all ages!
*A few more things on rest — If you have “To Bless the Space Between Us,” by John O’Donohue, his blessing “for one who is exhausted” will be manna to your soul. Also, the podcast on the different kinds of rest by Kendra Adachi with the Lazy Genius (because not all forms of rest are the same, and what we need can vary!)
Ash and Starlight, plus other good things…
* MY ETSY SHOP ~ Check out my Etsy shop for clothes, prints, pillows, and more. You can view the shop here . I send a portion of sales in my Etsy shop to Feed My Starving Children. Here’s a sneak peek of a few of the new listings…
*SECOND EDITION OF ASH AND STARLIGHT ~ Find the updated edition of my book here at Chalice or at the Bookshop link.
*MONDAY MANNA ARCHIVES ~ Monday Manna each week is free! Supporting supporters of Monday Manna can view previous Monday Manna reflections here, or for the really old stuff, go to my website.
*WHAT DOES MANNA MEAN? ~ Check out an earlier post to learn how this little bit of “daily bread” got its name…
Take to heart those good words from John O’Donohue from his blessing “for one who is exhausted….”
Be excessively gentle with yourself…
Stay clear of those vexed in spirit.
Learn to linger around someone of ease
who feels they have all the time in the world.
Gradually, you will return to yourself,
having learned a new respect for your heart
and the joy that dwells far within slow time.*
And remember, friends, all will be well, and all manner of things shall be well.
Love and Light,
Arianne
*”For One who is exhausted" from To Bless the Space Between Us, p. 126.
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