One Word
This winter on The Daily Pattern we’re in a series called One Word. Each day we take one word – a feeling or circumstance – and bring a word from God to it. Let the Word of God speak to your life.
Invocation
Make the sign of the cross, and say,
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Invitation Prayer
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matt. 5:5) O Lord, I am lowly and humble. You alone are my inheritance. Amen.
Word: Matthew 11:28
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”.
Meditation
Weariness by Paul Dickerson
As a parent, one of my great joys in life is introducing my children to the books, music, and movies of my own childhood. It’s like handing down a piece of yourself and getting to experience it all over again as you see their joy, excitement and wonder.
My son just finished reading J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy and we are currently working our way through the movies. Early in the first book/movie, The Fellowship of the Ring, there is a conversation between the hobbit Bilbo Baggins and the wizard Galdalf. Bilbo is about to celebrate his 111th birthday and he says to the wizard, “I’m old, Gandalf. I know I don’t look it, but I am beginning to feel it in my heart. I feel…thin. Sort of stretched, like…butter scraped over too much bread.”
Exactly! That’s exactly what it is to be weary. Thin. Stretched. Like butter scraped over too much bread. Weariness is different from just being tired after a long day’s work. That can actually be a good feeling. But weariness goes deeper. Past muscle and bone and down into the heart and soul. Weariness saps not only your ability to act, but also your desire to do so.
And there is much that makes me weary. The pandemic for one. Politics. Outrage—real and manufactured. Seeing friends and family suffering and not being able to help. The grind of each day. I’m sure you have your own list of things that make you weary and sap your motivation.
And we need rest. Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” And if I’m honest, I have more questions. How will you give me rest, Jesus? What about the things that still need to be done? Who is going to take care of all that? Where is this rest going to come from?
But Jesus doesn’t give us a five-point plan for better rest. Something that would likely just wear us out even more. And he doesn’t give us an easy or cliche answer to our problems. Instead of a plan he offers a promise. Instead of an answer, he offers himself. To those who are weary, Jesus says, “Come to me. Learn from me. Come alongside me. And I will give you rest.”
Lord Jesus, there is much of which I am weary and I have no place else to go. Take my burdens. Carry them yourself. And give me rest. Amen.
Prayer for Family
· For my immediate family (parents, spouse, siblings).
· For extended family (cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents)
· For close friends that are as family to me.
· For those who don’t have families, or whose families are broken.
· For forgiveness and reconciliation where there is division in my family.
· For provision where there is need in my family.
· For God to be the foundation, and the cross the center of my family.
· For a generation yet unborn, future members of our family.
Closing Prayer
O Lord and King, your Kingdom comes even without our prayer. But we pray that it would also come among us. We are desperate for your reign and rule, for all we see is rebellion. Come into my heart, my home, my family, my work, my church, my community. Rule with justice and with mercy. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.