Jimbo's Jots

My wife and I had to make a decision this past week. The decision process started a couple of weeks ago when the washing machine started to make a noise when a load was being done. It’s a 15 year old machine, roughly estimated. So, a service call was made to see about repairing. In about 30 minutes, the repairman gave an estimate to replace parts and service. A quick calculation in my head left me with having us make a choice. Do we spend the money to repair or do we buy new? The cost was going to be relatively the same amount.

After 15 years of laundry in the Calkin house, the old machine finally got weary and we started to hear the signs of getting worn. So a change is being made soon!

We’re kind of like that – we know the sounds of our own weariness. We know what that feels like and it usually comes out in verbally.

AAUGH!! – the Charlie Brown cry of weariness. It’s the noise he makes just after Lucy’s has pulled the football away. It’s the cry of despair he makes when he just doesn’t have the nerve to talk to the little red haired girl.

SIGH!! – we’ve felt this, haven’t we? Sometimes, it comes out has a heavier sigh. It usually comes when we feel we have given our all, or when we can’t see any other options.

Paul even felt this kind of weariness. Take a read: “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:8-9, NIV) There has been many discussions about what Paul was asking God to take away. But, you can hear the “AAUGH!!” and the “SIGH!!”

And yet the next words that come out of Paul’s mouth is not an “AAUGH!” or even a “SIGH!”. “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (12:9-10)

Paul invites us to another sound of weariness – “PRAISE!!” Too many times we are weary because our trials seem to overwhelm us and we don’t see any relief. Paul reminds us that in our weakness and weariness, Christ’s power rests on us. When we remember and realize this, our cries of weariness become songs of praise to the God who is strong in our weakness.

Be blessed in your weariness and be a blessing to others along the way!