“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Jesus, Matthew 11:28-30

It’s been so wearisome, with all the challenges living in such a crazy and challenging time. Then you add ministry and all the daily responsibilities that do not cease, just because of all that is going on. Or just because I would like it to. And you have the definition of wearisome. I have often contemplated on these word Jesus spoke. I think about how gentle and kind He is and how I long for rest, real rest.

Then there’s the pressure to mask any weariness or any sign of weakness. Sounds so silly but…

I read an article about this pressure to hide how we are really feeling by David Zahl, “Penn Faces and Campus Tragedies: More Notes on the Suicide Epidemic”

At Penn State University they call it “Penn Face.”It refers to students who act “happy and self-assured even when sad or stressed.” At Stanford they call it the “Duck Syndrome,” referring to students who live like ducks appearing to glide calmly on water while frantically paddling under the surface. As one Penn student said, “Nobody wants to be the one who is struggling while everyone else is doing great. Despite whatever’s going on—if you’re stressed, a bit depressed, if you’re overwhelmed—you want to put up this positive front.”

As The New York Times reports, “In the era of social media, such comparisons take place on a screen with carefully curated depictions that don’t provide the full picture. Mobile devices escalate the comparisons from occasional to nearly constant.”

When students remark to Gregory T. Eells, director of counseling at Cornell University that everyone else on campus looks happy, he tells them: “I walk around and think, ‘That one’s gone to the hospital. That person has an eating disorder. That student just went on antidepressants.’ As a therapist, I know that nobody is as happy or as grown-up as they seem on the outside.”

Jesus calls, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

How wonderful and kind He is. He knows right where we are. He knows our hearts. He knows our soul that lies behind any mask we try to put on. What a friend we have in Jesus.

What a friend we have in Jesus
All our sins and griefs to bear
And what a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer

Oh, what peace we often forfeit
Oh, what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged
Take it to the Lord in prayer

Can we find a friend so faithful
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness
Take it to the Lord in prayer

Thank you, Jesus. I come to you right now, wearied. Teach me to rest in you. Thank you.

another step…