i can't do it!

 (not my desk, but i can assure you...mine would be pretty similar!)

ever had one of those days?

you know the ones--everything is piling up, both literally and figuratively.

the kids and the husband are all begging for attention--with good reason.

papers are waiting to be graded (it really isn't a good idea to give every class a test at the same time, but for some reason i keep doing it. what's that definition of insanity again? "doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results." but i digress...)

laundry is overflowing...especially easy to do when the washer isn't working and you live *waayyy* far away from a laundromat...

kids toys are all over the house.

there are words begging to be written, ideas drowning out all the sane voices in my head...

i'm in the middle of one of those days right now. to be more honest, i would have to say i'm in the middle of one of those years right now (yes, i know it's just february. i'm a teacher, so "year" is a totally different time frame for me now).

i look around me at all the things i have to get done. i see all the tasks that are unfinished, all the things i thought i would have figured out by now. i look at this thing called my life and wonder how i let it get away from me. i see all the demands on

      my time

           my energy

                my emotions

and sometimes i want to just hide myself away for a while. i don't want to have to keep it all together--doing so is sapping my strength, all across the board, on every level imaginable.

hmm.

my strength?

wait a minute.

why in the world am i trying to do everything by myself, in my own strength?

that's just crazy!

in Philippians, Paul reminds us, "i can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

i can do everything, right?

John tells us that Jesus said, "without Me you can do nothing."

i don't know about you, but for me that's sometimes a little hard to handle.

i like being able to do things on my own.  

in all honesty, i don't much like being told i can't do something. that's usually when i do everything possible to prove wrong whoever just told me that i couldn't do it.

the problem is, Jesus is the one who said i can't do anything without Him. so now i'm either tasked with trying to disprove the Master of the Universe... or with believing Him.

so, now i go back to that verse..."through Christ." 

He doesn't need me to do all this stuff by myself. He doesn't even want me to.

in Matthew we are given some more of Jesus's words:  "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light."

He wants to take my burdens, all of them.

He is waiting for me to cry out like Moses did:"i can't do this by myself-it's too much"

then, He will give me rest.

as much as i don't like to admit my weaknesses, that's what i have to do.

it's in my weaknesses that i get the chance to see God's awesome strength. 

*check out the words to a song by Casting Crowns called "in me" 
definitely a theme song for me...