Remember the 2009 iPhone commercial with the famous line: “There’s an app for that!”? In my never-ending quest for better ways to take care of myself, I’ve discovered that there truly is an app for everything. Gratitude apps, meditation apps, daily prayer apps, journaling apps, yoga apps, mindfulness apps. Honestly it feels kind of exhausting keeping up with all of this! I wonder if the pursuit of self-care can have a sneaky side effect of increased pressure and stress. Our determination to fit in all of these “10-minute” things to make us feel nurtured and cared for can actually have the opposite effect!
My question is: Why do we feel we need to go it alone? Why do we make ourselves solely responsible for our own care? The wonderful reality of our faith is that we are never alone! We worship a loving God who created us for the sole purpose of loving us. God desires—and is mighty enough—to carry our burdens and help us find rest.
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28
When I try to think of a human experience that most closely resembles this feeling, I think back to my beloved grandmother and how she made the best soft-boiled eggs. There was nothing that made me feel more cared for than sitting at the kitchen counter, chatting with my grandmother while she made me soft-boiled eggs on toast. Even after I learned how to make my own…I rarely did. That was our special ritual. Something she did for me because she knew how much I enjoyed it. They never tasted quite the same when I tried to make them myself.
When you feel wrung out dry or stretched too thin, come to the “kitchen counter” and let yourself be cared for. Lean into the Lord. Let your loving Creator nurture you while you do nothing but simply sit and feel loved. It’s not a task like writing in a journal or making a gratitude list. It’s a feeling. An experience of being held.
This need so many of us have to constantly seek out new types of self care reminds me of the Scripture: Seek the Lord while he may be found. (Isaiah 55:6) There is absolutely a time and a place for this kind of spiritual quest, but if I’m being honest, there are times when I’m simply too weary to do any seeking. When I’m feeling this way, I think back to something I heard in a sermon once: Jesus is the Good Shepherd and we are His sheep. It’s not the job of the sheep to go off looking for the shepherd. And so as believers, we have one simple job…to be found.
God knows us intimately and loves us unconditionally, and we don’t have to do any work for that to happen. Now if you’re like me, I’m sure you’re saying: “OK, sounds good! I would love to let God take care of me. So how do I do that? What are the steps I need to take? Is there an app for that?”
I encourage you to resist thinking about this as something you need to do. The closest I can come to an app for you is Psalm 46:10 – Be still and know that I am God. Find some time to be still and just meet God in the present moment with no agenda, no “to do” list, and no goals of what you hope to accomplish. Just be. The present moment is where we see the face of God, and all we have to do is open our eyes and look—and let God look back at us. This moment of loving connection with our Divine Creator will leave us feeling refreshed, restored, and cared for more than any app could ever do.
Photo by Neil Soni on Unsplash
Hearing God's Whisper 