I’ve had some really awesome conversations this week and many of them have been around the theme of surrender… Whether or not the conversations began there or were expected to land there… Surrender was the destination all along.
Interestingly, all of the conversations were with women who are sensing a major task ahead of them. The tasks vary and I was speaking with authors and speakers, a politician and entrepreneur… regardless of what they are working towards there are many walls and plenty of opposition ahead of them.
I’m sure this is a thought that resonates with many of you… whether or not you are a woman and whether or not the tasks/to-do lists feel major.
The walls and the opposition are real.
For some of us, our natural instinct may be to fight harder and to toughen up; to grin and bear it. For others our default may be to turn right back around and leave; roll over and play dead!
The good news, is that regardless of our natural tendencies, when we are partnered up with the Living God, these are not our only options.
As familiar as this message may be for you (perhaps you can already guess where this is going!), I encourage you to allow this truth to settle a little deeper into your spirit. Because we all need this reminder.
One of my friends was telling me that she felt like she’s losing her marbles. “It’s like one marble falls out of my head and as I turn to chase it and have nearly caught it, two more have already popped out and rolled in opposite directions!”
Relatable?! 🙋♀️ I know it is for me!
And as we chase down these “marbles” and try to pull ourselves together and keep ourselves in tact, we fall apart even more. And the quicker we run after the marbles and search for the ones that rolled too far, we begin to drop others.
Towards the end of the call, after a quick word of prayer, she said, “I surrender!! Jesus take the wheel!!”
And once again I was struck by the fact that during a conversation about this, that and the other thing that are all going wrong, the point at the end of was surrender.
I laughed a little and said, “Hey, maybe the key to the marble situation is just letting the marbles roll. They seem pretty set on falling anyway!! Let them fall and roll and go where they might, and once they’ve settled, you can determine which one you need to go after next.”
We chuckled about it, but ultimately both hung up feeling a lot more peace.
Because if God truly is who he says he is… and if God is working in ways we could never understand, maybe losing our marbles isn’t actually the worst thing.
Maybe when we choose surrender and allow our clenched fists to release, when we choose to branch off from our typical fight or flight modes, maybe that is actually the moment we begin to find our marbles… or whatever the opposite of losing our marbles may be.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30
Jesus offers this beautiful invitation that absolutely extends to each of us today.
Even though we might not know a whole lot about ploughing or farming and the yoke on a pair of oxen (I sure don’t!) I think we can all appreciate the invitation to have the weight on our shoulders eased and taken away.
That is the beauty of surrender and that is what it feels like when we let Jesus take the plough… I mean, wheel 😉
Lord Jesus,
We need you so desperately.
We do not know as much as we would like and we do not have the solutions we need.
And we are so tired of chasing marbles.
God, we choose to surrender ourselves and our situations to you once more.
And maybe again in a minute.
As many times over as we need to, God I ask that you would give each of us the strength,
courage and humility to seek you out in total surrender.
Thank you for loving us so very much.
Thank you for easing our burdens rather than adding to them.
May we learn to trust you more and depend on you more every day.
Amen.