The Constant Oasis

The Constant Oasis

Do you ever feel burned out? Like you’d just like to pack up and run away from your life? Maybe it’s work, or maybe it’s the kids, the marriage, the bills, the house issues, the health problems, the recovery from trauma. It kind of feels like a little kid running to hide under the covers to protect them from the monsters in the closet—it probably won’t really change anything to run away, but it feels like it might be helpful somehow.

I feel that way sometimes. I want to hide from the parts of my life that feel too hard, too painful, too much work. Hiding doesn’t fix them, but at times it feels like the only way to deal with it all.

The communication from the world is generally—keep going, don’t quit. The communication from the church sometimes is—keep working, don’t let anyone see you are hurting. The communication from our own selves is—keep trying, your worth is tied up in not quitting.

God's Loving Pursuit

God's Loving Pursuit

One of the tenderest ways I see God love us is in His pursuit of us, never giving up even when we run away with all our might. This isn’t an aggressive pursuit to push us into doing something, but rather He waits for us to be at a point to receive His love. He is always close, waiting for us to yield to the amazing love He wants to give us.

He leaves the 99 sheep to find the one. He seeks out the lost coin, the lost treasure to restore it to its proper place. He pursues the ones who feel themselves to be too much, too broken, too lost. I picture Him as running next to us, not chasing us down, but reminding us that He is always available and waiting for the turn to Him.

Sometimes it isn’t until we are lying on the ground in exhaustion, panting to inhale any breath of air we can get, that we finally look up and realize He has never left. We may be too tired to care, but our hearts shift when we see that He does not abandon.