Yesterday morning, I woke up at 5:42, checked my facebook account, and took a shower.  Then, I dressed myself; blow-dried and straightened my hair; and put my face on.  I went into the kitchen, grabbed my frozen lunch from the fridge, and poured some orange juice into a travel mug; I went into the living room and reorganized the papers on the couch that I was grading and put them into my sweet messenger bag.  As I was about ready to leave, I put my messenger bag on my right shoulder, slipped my purse onto my left shoulder, picked up my lunch with my right hand and snagged my orange juice mug with my left hand.  I walked down the stairs to my garage and put my lunch on top of my car so as to free the hand so I could open the rear driver’s side door.  I placed my lunch in the seat and dropped my bag in the floor board.  I shut the door and opened the front driver’s side door and dropped my purse into my hand, sat down, put the orange juice mug between my thighs and grabbed the keys needed to start the car.  I closed the door, placed my purse in the passenger seat, pushed the garage door opener, waited, then rolled out from my garage.

When I arrived at my parking spot at work, I put Cameron (my car) in park, pulled the E-brake for safe keeping, shut off the car, took the keys and grabbed my purse and mug before getting out.  My purse went on my left shoulder while the OJ mug was in my left  hand.  I opened the rear door, put my messenger bag on my right shoulder, grabbed my frozen pot roast bowl and put it in my left  hand with my orange juice mug handle.  I shoved my keys in my pocket, closed the back door, pushed the lock button on the front door, closed it, then realized I needed to grab a drink from my trunk.  I pulled the keys back from my pocket, unlocked the trunk, reached all the way to the front of the trunk to grab a Sprite, pinned the can between my arm and my side, closed the trunk, pulled out the keys, and put my keys back into my right pocket.  I took the Sprite from under my arm and held it with my right hand.  To recap, I had the following going on: right shoulder: messenger bag; right hand: Sprite; left shoulder: purse; left hand: orange juice mug, frozen pot roast lunch bowl. 

So, I managed to walk into the building after someone held the door for me.  I put the Sprite down on the counter in front, signed in, and picked the Sprite back up.  I walked past the counter to check my mailbox.  I had several papers.  I sat the Sprite atop the lunch bowl for a second, grabbed the short stack of differently-shaped papers and sympathy cards, and held the warm Sprite between my thumb and forefinger as the rest of the fingers clinched at the papers.  I walked to my classroom, pushed the door open with my right foot and proceeded to put everything down carefully on the closest student desk.  I put down the frozen bowl of pot roast, then the orange juice mug.  I used my left hand to pull the papers from my right then dropped them to the desk before placing the Sprite with the rest.  I let go of my messenger bag beside my desk chair and hid my purse away.  I then proceeded to put all the desk-dropped items in their appropriate places: fridge, desk, etc. 

Do you ever feel like you’re carrying too much? 

Psalm 55.22a says “Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you.”

There are some times in life when we feel that we need to handle everything.  We must take care of everything.  If we just keep going–keep picking up the things we think we need–we will eventually figure it out and solve all the problems at hand.  Obviously, I’ve struggled with this literally, lately.  But also: spiritually.  I keep thinking I can handle all the things that I face solo.  It’s not true.

When I got to my classroom and put everything down, I was free to focus on happy things–like breakfast.  When I was holding all of it, all I could do was focus on every single appendage and its current job. 

When I hand my troubles/burdens over to God, He sustains me.  He keeps me going.  He handles everything.  Then, I’m free to enjoy the beauty that surrounds me: a friend’s smile, a teenager’s wit, the moon, the sound of my love’s voice, etc.