Patience Worn out

Feast of the Triumph of the Cross

With their patience worn out by the journey,
the people complained against God and Moses,
“Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert,
where there is no food or water?
We are disgusted with this wretched food!”

In a way I had to laugh at this, this morning. Moses leading the people out of slavery and into the freedom of the Promised Land became worn out by the journey. Worn. Out. by the Journey. It took the Israelites forty years to travel from Egypt to what would become the land of Israel. That’s two full generations. In that time the memory of how they were freed became lost in the daily living of traveling, eating, setting up and breaking down tents, marrying, birthing babies, burying the dead. Memories that led them to their freedom from the brutality of slavery, of being used, abused, ill-fed.

They were worn out! They were questioning God. They were tired. They were weary of the manna for food. The snake situation caught their attention, reminding them of their freedom in God. That in God they have new life.

As human beings we get worn out. Worn. OUT. It’s not that we lose interest in our life of faith, or that we don’t want to trust in God. We begin to hold onto those things that draw our attention away from him, from the reminder that his “yoke is easy and his burden light.” We give into the negative thoughts filling our minds and hearts, to the feelings that often overwhelm us. Thoughts and feelings aren’t bad in and of themselves, they just are. Being worn out though.

Bob’s quilt often makes an appearance on this blog making some kind of spiritual/faith related point. I love this quilt. It’s too small for our bed, even though at the time I thought it was huge. Some of the fabric is worn out, in part from use, in part from sun exposure and in part because of the chemicals used in the dying process. This quilt is living on our bed right now as we head into autumn as it is just the right weight for this time of year. As the seasons progress into winter we’ll layer up other quilts and blankets for the warmth needed.

While the quilt is worn in spots it’s still functional, it holds memories of love, lessons learned, and time invested in creating something beautiful for our home. So it lives with its worn-ness on our bed.

Being worn out physically and spiritually doesn’t mean we’ve lost our usefulness or our function, nor does it mean that casting aside Faith, and/or our work is a good thing. During some of my own worn out time I’ve written some beautiful, encouraging blog posts. In this worn out-ness I knew, trusted there would be a moment that Faith would liven my soul, even though I couldn’t see and didn’t know when that would happen. Just as the Israelites were worn out by own journey, although they didn’t know when the end of their own journey would come. Even at of that journey, as they reached the Promised Land, their worn out-ness caused problems that would need to be resolved.

Through journey of the last few years in some ways I’ve kept doing the work, not always well, messing some things up, not enjoying that messing things up. But there’s been a lot of good through this. I can see in some ways, how God is working in this. I don’t know fully yet and may not fully now while breath fills my lungs. Being worn out means it’s time to practice some self-care which takes a bit of discipline. And it means getting stuck into work when needed.

Part of this self-care on my part is tidying up my sewing room, which is never easy. There’s more about that on TerifiCreations, click on sewing room to read more. And part is digging into prayer, and reading, I’m inspired and find great beauty incorporating this time into my day. It is an investment for the long haul, when like the Israelites, I become worn out again.

Stop by and read Caralyn’s post on Beauty Beyond Bones per usual it’s insightful in so many ways. As you can please pray for Lyn Scheuring, who is approaching her death. And for her family, they are a family that loves each other deeply.

God bless,

Teri