PREPARE YOUR EARS TO LISTEN AND YOUR HEART TO RECEIVE AS YOU TAKE IN THE WORDS THAT LOOK TO CHANGE LIVES, RENEW HEARTS AND OPEN MINDS
If the question was posed to you, what makes you drop your head, what would you say? I would think some of the possible answers would include financial frustration, divorce, dealing with your baby daddy or mother, the news with all of the murders or COVID, but to make it simple, I would say life. Are you tired from being beaten up by life? I am not talking about being physically tired when you can take a nap or go to sleep for a number of hours but tired as in weary or drained. Weary is defined as exhausted in strength, endurance, vigor, or freshness. Not having any more patience or tolerance, "all the thrill, is gone."
I went to a family member's funeral last week, and my uncle did the eulogy, he made mention that when we look at life, it's like we are walking through a valley. A valley is a low area of land between hills or mountains that sometimes have a river or stream flowing through it. It is important to point out that valleys are formed through erosion or the gradual wearing down of the land by wind and water "natural elements of the Earth."
Imagine yourself and a few friends in this nice plush valley with trees all around, nice weather, a cool breeze and the light sounds of a babbling stream running from one end to the other. You and your friends start taking in the moments by admiring the views from below and consider how much different things would be, if you were on the top of a hill or mountain. As you begin the journey of capturing this view, the clouds become dark and lightning shoots across the sky, loud thunder is heard all around and heavy rain begins. This once so nice valley, with its light babbling stream, is now becoming this raging river that is looking to devour any and everything in its path. Everyone in the group is now panicking and coming up with different ways to survive and in the midst of all of the commotion, everyone begins to become angry, selfish, and bitter as they think their way is the best way to handle the situation. As you look around, you begin to panic and weigh your options but everything you think of is counteracted by your friends. You have become anxious about making it, stressed because you can't think, and tired because you feel as if you can't handle the situation. Your mind, body, and soul is so overloaded now that you start doubting yourself and everyone else around you, you become physically, emotionally, and spiritually tired and the only option you can think of is to drop your head in defeat and give up.
Have you been in this situation before or in it now? First, when you become weary, you begin to make bad decisions about life and start to do things on your own or take advice from people who might be in the same situation that you are in and have no idea of what to do. Secondly, weariness will make you lose perspective of your goals and that vision you once had is now gone because you have lost the passion to pursue it. Lastly, it will make you sabotage yourself.
In this scenario, if everyone in the group would have stopped focusing on the rising water and the possibilities of what could happen, if they fell in and remained focused on the hills (from where their help was coming from) they would have noticed a rope that they all could have used to secure or anchor themselves from getting swept away and then used it as a rescue line to get pulled up from their rescuers that was at a higher elevation.
As you can see, the valley didn't make anyone weary, but it was the way they handled the situation which made them lose focus. Just like these people, none of them could control the amount of rain that fell, the speed or direction of the water and so goes our life. We are not in control of everything, so to be able to get through our weariness, we must stop trying to change the problem or situation and change ourselves. You are the only one that has absolute control over you. If you change you, then the things around you will change, retreat, or you will be able to walk through them. Remember to look at your pursuit and not just your perspective. Ask yourself, what are you chasing? Stop trying to figure everything out, you are not required to figure everything out and you don't have all the answers. To the Christians reading, this is where faith comes in. "Lean not unto your own understanding."
Everything is working out to your good when you stop worrying and let loose. Sometimes the little things can't be fixed because those are the things that are motivating us to be greater. When your mind is captivated by something then your body will follow suit. So renew your mind or change your perspective and keep your head lifted up. #SPEAK2MYHEART
