Just how exhausted are you right now? How completely overwhelmed and overstretched have you become? You woke up more tired than you were when you went to bed, and you’re not sure how your already depleted level of energy will ever be enough to get you through this day. You’ve already made peace with the fact that you will be dragging butt all day today.

Really, why are you dragging butt today? Why are you trudging along, just trying to get through the day? Why are you moving slow, feeling low, already exhausted at the beginning of the day?

Hey, Sis, why are you so tired? Why are you so stressed? What is causing this in your life?

We’re quick to assume it’s because we are doing too much. We have too much on our plate. Too many people counting on us. Too much to get done. Too much coming that we’re not even remotely ready for.

But if that is the case, then how are there people with the same amount of work, the same obligations, the same stresses and messes as you, but they’re waking up with energy and joy today? What’s the secret here? Why are they not overwhelmed? Why are they not exhausted?

Honey, they’re not better than you, they’ve just tapped into something you haven’t quite discovered yet. But what if you could discover it today? What if I could share with you the one thing you’ve maybe been missing, and this one thing has the power to make a drastic difference in every day of your life?

Interested?

Here’s the truth: You often feel tired, not because you’ve done too much, but because you’ve done too little of what sparks joy in you.

Now here’s the secret: Allow space for what you love.

God designed you with great detail. The color of your eyes, the size of your feet, each delicate turn of your fingerprints, all designed by him. And within, he designed specific desires of your heart to spark joy. He created you to love very specific things. Why? So you would enjoy the days of life he has granted you and follow that joy to find his desired passions in your life.

God created me to love adventure. He created me to find joy in the turquoise waters, in the woods, and in the mountains. He created me to explore and wander and discover. And when I’m doing those things, I feel more alive. I feel more in touch with the one who created me, and the life he created me for.

What about you? What are the specific desires of your heart that spark joy? What do you love doing? What do you love seeing? Where do you find tremendous joy?

Honey, if you can’t answer that question quickly and certainly, that tells me you’ve been spending a whole lot of your days checking boxes and going through the motions. Survival mode is created for one thing … surviving a crisis. If you’re not in an absolute crisis right now, why would you be living in a mode designed for one? You’re surviving this, but are you really living in it?

The point of this life is not to arrive at the end in a nice, clean car with good hair saying, “I have made it to my destination and I still look rather good.” Untouched. Unspoiled. Lipstick on point.

Honey, the point of this life is to come skidding through the pearly gates side ways on fumes saying, “Wooohooooo, what a ride! I lived and I loved, and I experienced all the things God created for me in this lifetime. I didn’t sit a single one out, I was all in for everything God had for me, and dang was it a wild ride! Maybe I could take a little nap in my heavenly mansion as eternity in Paradise begins.”

But is that the way we’re living … or are we saving that for some time in the future? For what … when you’re older? Baby, things don’t get easier when you get older. You’re saving all your tokens for a carnival ride that may be broken once you get there!

Psalm 16:11 “You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.”

God is showing you the way of life. He’s showing you all of this beauty he has created surrounding you and he’s given you your allotted lifetime to find joy in his presence within it. If you’re not finding joy, and instead all you’re finding are reasons to worry, tasks to be completed, work to dread, and details to be overwhelmed by, then you are clearly exhausted.

Why are you exhausted? Because you’re not living within the rhythms of life God created for you. I’m pretty sure when he created the beauty of a sunset, it was to promote a slowed rhythm that would make his girl stop and soak it in. I’m pretty sure when he created music with that beat you love so much, it was to move you to dance. When he created the warmth of the sunshine, it was to make you stop and feel it on your face. When he created little feet to make that pitter patter sound on the floor as they run through the house, it was to make you pause in that moment and savor what will pass so quickly.

But why wouldn’t you stop? Why wouldn’t you soak it in? Why wouldn’t you dance? Why wouldn’t you enjoy this now?

Oh yeah … because you’re so dang busy doing all these things you think you have to do, and wondering why you don’t seem to have the energy to do them. You don’t have the energy because you’ve denied yourself of the things God created to spark your soul.

God has joy for you here. He has pleasure for you now and forever. Won’t you let him show you the way of living that life?

He’s been doing special things just for you every single day of your life in an effort to draw you into a rhythm that allows life to flow instead of be pushed.

Psalm 23:6 “Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life.”

Every time I read that scripture, my first thought is, WHY NOT JUST LET IT CATCH ME? God is always chasing after me with love and beauty, so I’m going to slow down and let him catch me! He’s going to get me today!

The work will still get done. The tasks will still be accomplished. But the difference is, I will be doing it with a light inside of me because I’m totally caught by all this love and beauty my Creator has designed just for me.

I may not know the tasks ahead of you today, but I know God is chasing after you with beauty and love. I know he has created time to both enjoy what he’s offering you, and do all you need to do. God is not an either/or kinda God. He is a both/and. He made the flower to both look beautiful and smell delicious. The sun to both light and warm. And he created you to both enjoy and work. Savor and accomplish.

God has a rhythm for you, and it’s not dragging butt. It’s not trudging through this day with dread and anxiety. It’s not dwelling in overwhelm and frustration. It’s a rhythm of doing what needs to be done, and finding the opportunities to savor what sparks that joy in your life, just as God designed it to.

So let me say it again for the girls in the back who were multi-tasking and listening but not really hearing:

You often feel tired, not because you’ve done too much, but because you’ve done too little of what sparks joy in you.

Today, in the middle of all you have to do, find the joy of what you get to do too!

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