“Come to me all who are weary and burdened, 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.” – Matthew 11:28-30

I find myself bone-tired a lot these days. The weight of trying to keep up with a growing list of obligations and expectations is daunting. As a wife, a mom, a daughter, an employee, a friend, a church member, I just get “tie-yerd” (say it with a Texan twang) trying to keep my head above water.

My state of mind doesn’t improve when I focus on the never-ending pursuit of Pinterest perfection or float too long in the shallow end of Facebook friendships. What truly helps is following Jesus’ promise.

Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest: Take Jesus up on his invitation. Get away from your obligations–even if it’s just a few minutes–and look into God’s Word. Linger on an encouraging verse.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me: This tells me that you have to learn to follow (Duh!). It does not come naturally to us. It’s a discipline we build into our lives. When I am struggling, I try to mentally stop myself and ask, “What is the Lord trying to teach me here?” In her talk at Northwood’s Ladies Bible Study yesterday, Annie Murray said we have to go through the process to get to the promise. That, my friends, is godly wisdom.

For I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls: You won’t find soul rest by looking out for number one. This goes against what our culture teaches. I see this promise as having two parts, putting others first and being transparent. Feeling weighed down by your cares? Find someone to help. Even a simple act of easing off the gas and allowing that annoying driver to get ahead of me can reframe my focus. Discouraged because you stumbled on the same spot AGAIN? Overwhelmed by worry? Be transparent with others. Sharon Tedford said in our table group discussion yesterday that transparency leads to faith. A lack of transparency leads to religion.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light: Why is it easy and light? Grace. We don’t have to do it on our own (we couldn’t anyway). Grace is God’s power that holds us up when life is hard. Grace is God’s unexpected blessings that show up on the way. Grace is the promise of better things to come. As believers, we can look ahead to the future with joy.