Stop and drop!

Emotional exhaustion is settling upon many of us. We have fought long and hard to reclaim our families, our homes, our companies, and our lives. And now we are just about to drop.

I have read that a great race horse has so much heart that he will run for the jockey until he kills himself. The jockey riding a great horse has to be acquainted with the physical limits and protect the horse from his own determined will.

So maybe it is time to stop and drop. You don’t have to drop hard, and you don’t have to stay down long. But for the sake of everyone you love, you have to take a breather.

I think that is why the account of creation in the Bible records God resting on the seventh day. We are made in the image of God in that we can initiate, innovate, communicate, relate, and correlate. But he knows we do not have unlimited stamina. So he stopped to rest and hoped we would pay attention.

Sometimes we refuse to stop and drop because we are in crisis mode. Our lives are incinerating, and we are running without thinking. The “stop and drop” instruction works when your clothes are on fire. You should not run then. You should stop, drop and roll.

It also works when your mind and heart and emotions are on fire. You cannot outrun your racing mind. You will run yourself into the ground. And that will not be good for anyone.

I can hear your thoughts churning. People are depending on you—important people like children and spouses and aging parents. You are a caregiver every day. You are the chauffeur, the nanny, the nurse, and the maid.

You are the sole provider. You generate the only income stream. Everything goes south if you stop producing. Everyone depends on you.

All the more reason to stop and drop. Warn the people around you. If they truly care for you, they know that you are approaching your limit. They may already be urging you to take a break.

Listen to what they are saying. The rat race will be okay without you for a day or two. You will not fix everything that still needs repaired and recovered in one fell swoop. We are in a 20-year marathon down here on the bayou, and we have to move out of crisis mode and into a sustainable pace with appropriate breaks.

The stress of this mess is straining the most important relationships of life. The mountain of things yet to do seems overwhelming. Sometimes we fear that we are just digging futilely at the edge of the pile. Frustration combined with futility will wear out any hearty soul.

Stop and drop. It will give you a new perspective on life in general and the pace of your own personal recovery. It will increase your energy, lower your anxiety, and bring your world into better focus.

After all, everyone on the planet is recovering in some way. We are all “getting over” troubles of some kind. We cannot postpone love and life and recreation until we are fully recovered. You can see where that would leave us.

This week I examined a butterfly with two of my granddaughters. It danced through the yard and landed on the tiniest lavender blossom. We sneaked up close, faces pressed together, and watched it feed on the pollen. We noticed the amazing pattern of bright colors on the perimeters of its wings. We studied it upside down and right-side up until it noticed us and flitted away.

Now that was a moment when the cares of the world were suspended. It didn’t last long enough, but it reminded me how good it feels to stop the spinning wheels of my mind, drop to my knees, and enjoy a moment of beauty and grace.

Sheep and Goats

The Sheep and the Goats

Jesus’ story of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46) has far-reaching implications. It continues a central theme of Jesus. If you ask Jesus about eternal life he is likely to suggest that you sell everything you own and give it to the poor or that you take care of the victims of crime.

The sheep and the goats have treated “these brothers of mine” differently. The blessed, who have an inheritance prepared for them by the Father, unconsciously ministered to Christ by caring for the needs of others. The cursed, who departed to eternal punishment, unconsciously neglected Christ by neglecting the needy.

“These brothers of mine” must be present in every time and place in human history. This alone makes their treatment the sole criteria in the final judgment of the nations, the church, and the world.

We are tempted to whittle on “these brothers of mine” like the expert in the law was tempted to whittle on the definition of “neighbor.” Jesus is here reinforcing the truth that we have encountered the neighbor we are to love whenever we see the opportunity and have resources to apply to that need.

Jesus does not render judgment here in the same terms that we use daily to evaluate the believing status of those about us. We usually base our judgment of the religious status of others on 1) the house of worship they might attend and 2) the religious creed to which they might subscribe. These criteria—worship practice and belief system—are the most common religious evaluators used by humans.

Jesus goes instead to the treatment of the needy. This is the great indicator of an individual’s true relationship with God. Not which house of worship you attend, but how you treat the needy you pass by on your journey there is likely to be the focus of the final judgment.

Jesus also collapses the First Commandment—love the Lord—into the Second Commandment—love your neighbor. When you care for the needy (love your neighbor) you have actually loved the Lord (you did for me). The blessed are surprised that Jesus was “wearing the mask” of hunger and thirst although the doctrine of the Incarnation itself points to this. The cursed are surprised that they missed the King, too, for they intended to bless the King even though they were consciously neglecting the poor.

The only way to prepare for this final exam is to pour out your life completely for the King who has done the same for you.

Hope

Here is a picture of my granddaughter, Hope (written on her stocking cap), with the levee behind her.

The most precious things in my life are protected by the government levees in and around New Orleans.