As I type, I’m remembering my day yesterday. My kids didn’t get enough sleep the night before and were pretty cranky. I also didn’t get enough sleep the night before and was cranky. It’s never a great thing when the kids and the parents are cranky on the same day. At some point in the afternoon, I had gotten to a place where I probably should have taken a break of some kind, but I didn’t and ended up exploding on my kids. Then carried a fair amount of guilt and shame the rest of the day. Which created more stress. I felt like I was holding all of my burdens on my own without remembering to ask for help from my helper. Why is it that this time of year seems to trigger feelings of stress and being overwhelmed?
Our focus at church this month is on the season of Advent. Everything I’m being surrounded by right now is pointing me to the fact that when Jesus came, He brought everything I needed. Hope, Peace, Joy and Love all came when Jesus did. So why is it so easy to forget this when life starts happening? Why is it that oftentimes, I can’t feel the hope, peace, joy or love in the moments I need to feel them most?
Emmanuel means “God with us.” God is with us in all that we are dealing with. He is with us in the big things and the little things. And because of that, we have the ability, if we remember to reach for it, to grab ahold of the hope, peace, joy and love He is offering. The problem comes in when we forget or don’t think to look to Him in the midst of our big and small problems. I know for me, I often get blinded to all that God is offering when stress comes my way. All I see is the stress. I forget to look at the bigger picture. I have a hard time remembering to pray and ask God to take care of my burdens. He wants to. Sometimes, I just don’t let him.
My prayer for not only myself, but all of us this year, is that we would let God in. That we would allow ourselves to truly experience what it means to have God with us. Rather than just trying to carry our burdens, we would hand those to God and rest in the hope, peace, joy and love that arrived when He arrived.
Katie Duke is the creative director at TrueNorth Church in North Augusta. For more information, visit truenorthchurch.com.
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