For the Weary Ones

When we deny our pain, losses, and feelings year after year, we become less and less human. We transform slowly into empty shells with smiley faces painted on them.

Peter Scazzero

Dear Tired Heart,

Can we talk? You put up a brave front, but the weight you carry is too much for anyone to handle alone. Take it from me: pretending you’re fine will smother the life out of you. Christ has called us to bear one another’s burdens… even the burdens that are hard to admit. I’ve walked this path, and now I’m right beside you, holding space for your exhaustion. It’s so tempting to make yourself small to avoid being seen, but you don’t have to worry about bullying or minimizing or fixing here. You’re safe—just breathe.

In time you might sense the Holy Spirit gently nudging you to explore the extent of your weariness. I’ll hold your hand when you’re ready. Steadied by His boundless peace, we’ll shine a light over the landscape of your life, noticing every source of fatigue that arises. Lean into the discomfort and be patient; no need to rush. I know this part is hard. You’ve spent so much energy trying to hold everything together, and acknowledging the damage seems like a kind of death. If you never learned that it’s healthy to unpack big feelings in the presence of God, consider this your very own permission slip. Emotional disclosure is good for the soul. Don’t believe me?

Confessing your weariness can:

• bring you back to sanity as it reminds you of your limitations—you are not God (hallelujah!)
• give you fresh material to pray over
• indicate growing self-awareness
• make you more relatable than perfection ever could
• build trust in a God who is able to handle your every emotion, not just the pretty ones
• prove the emptiness of your favorite idols and quick fixes
• provide a platform from which to watch the Holy Spirit’s redemptive movement
• allow others to minister to you, inviting real community rather than insisting on one-way service
• shrink your pride
• create a conduit for genuine healing
• amplify your gratitude for your great high priest, who experienced this too, and who now lives to intercede for you
• intensify your anticipation of heaven
• open new levels of relationship with the Lord that only complete honesty can access
• silence the isolating voice of the enemy
• help you come alongside other weary ones with deeper compassion and insight
• make room for the strength of God’s ever-sufficient grace

Of course there is a path forward through such intense fatigue, one that plants its steps in the sturdy footprints of Christ. And that path is worth investigating. But for now, it’s enough to sit awhile and rest in the hard and holy work of owning this moment. The Lord waits for you here.

“For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.”

Jeremiah 31:25