I’ve been feeling a little overwhelmed lately. I have a lot to get done in what seems like a short amount of time and I’m….Well, I’m tired. I feel the question from a girlfriend running around in my head. Do you ever feel like you’re doing a million different things but you’re not really doing any of them really well? My answer is “Yes.” My answer is “Often times I feel like that.”

But I want to do them ALL and I want to do them all REALLY WELL. And my guess is you want to do it all and really well too! I want to be SUPER mom, SUPER wife, SUPER pastor’s wife, SUPER employee, SUPER cook, SUPER writer, SUPER decorator, SUPER stylish….you get the idea. The problem is when I start trying to be SUPER at all these things, I end up being SUPER at none of them.

I have so many things to do. So little time. And yet I made the decision to find a quiet place, to sit down with my bible and journal and just be…until God refreshes me. Because I’m burned out. And the first thing that comes to mind when I speak those words is this scripture. Matthew 11:28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

And as I allow these words to work themselves out in my life I realize that the heavy and ill-fitting things that I have been walking around in, the ones that are making me so tired, they weren’t put there by Him. I put them on myself.

Tomorrow is good Friday. My son asked me the other day, “Mom, why is good Friday called “good?” There’s not really anything good about it, it’s more like sad Friday.” And after we talked a bit we both came to the conclusion that it’s not “good” like when we use the term “I had a good day.” That means that everything went smoothly, it was nice, maybe even fun. But Jesus dying on the cross for our sins is “GOOD”. It’s good- FOR US.  It’s all in who the good is directed towards. And the good of the cross is directed toward Mankind. Towards me. Towards you. His last and final work on the cross was to sacrifice a perfect life for, well, for me. A sinner. And when you think of it like that, the adjective good could be replaced with great, amazing, life-changing.

Christ died for me so that I can live freely and lightly. And if I’m spending too much time entangled with all of the ill-fitting things I have put on myself, I am robbing myself of the joy that comes in living freely and lightly. Living and learning the unforced rhythms of his grace.

With Easter around the corner the color green is springing up everywhere. It’s a symbol of “new growth.” Of something “new and fresh”. It also happens to be my favorite color. And you may be surprised to see how many times the word “green” appears in the Bible.  Romans 15:13 says, “Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!”

Ah. That’s exactly what I need. Life-giving energy that comes from the Holy Spirit. I need his green hope. His hope that is fresh and new and full of life. I need to step back and simplify things. I need to decipher between the things in my life that are important and MOST important. And when I ask God what is MOST important for me, at this stage of my life, He answers in the way only He can. With a love and an understanding that is unique to me and my circumstances. And then I can learn to have the “real rest” that he talks about as I walk with him, in His unforced rhythms of grace.

Good Friday is good because we had to have that before we could have Easter. And Easter is the very definition of “green hope.”

This Easter season my prayer for you is that you would be aware of the green hope that is available to you. Whether for the first time ever, or just as a reminder again of all that Christ has done for you. That your heart would be open to hear what He wants to speak to you, and that you would live in the “green” freedom and rest that was given by the “red”shed blood on the cross. Happy Easter!