From adrenaline to exhaustion

I want to invite you to just ponder both of those words before we go much further.

Adrenaline.

Exhaustion.

At first glance, they may seem like polar opposites or strikingly different extremes. However, after deeper reflection, I can’t help but wonder if there is a fine line between the two, a very fine line that perhaps we have been tip toeing on for too long.

“Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” – Jesus (Mark 6:31b)

For quite some time now, Jesus has been wooing me to places and spaces of rest. While that might sound extraordinary to some, it had become a bit of a foreign concept to me. Rest seemed to fall somewhere on the back burner of the more pressing or urgent issues in life and ministry, and needless to say, I had fallen out of the discipline of solitude and rest.

One can only go so long before “running on fumes” doesn’t cut it anymore. Jesus knew this, and He taught His disciples to know this first-hand. In Mark 6:31b, we read of Jesus’ very personal invitation to His closest friends to retreat with Him and get some rest. The disciples had just finished a rather intense and demanding season of ministry and had spent an extended amount of time pouring themselves out for the sake of others.

I intentionally left out the first half of Mark 6:31 until now to make a point. If you don’t already have your Bible open, grab it, and flip it open to Mark 6:31. Now, read the verse in its entirety.

Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, He said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

I don’t have to wonder at whether or not you and I have found ourselves in a similar place. The pace of life has quickened so much so (or we have allowed it to), that there are days when we literally have left no margin or time to feed ourselves. Our days are packed full of running here and doing that, meeting with so-and-so, appointments and soccer practices…chasing, chasing, chasing, and never resting. I’m not even talking about a nap, although the Lord knows how much some of us need one. I’m referring to a refreshing of our souls, one that can only come from time spent in God’s presence. Time spent in prayer. Time spent with Jesus, sitting at His feet, soaking up every word, just like Mary did, while Martha ran and ran trying to do and do.

Rather, we live much of our lives from this frantic place of adrenaline, hoping that the steam doesn’t wear off until that final task or obligation is completed. Then we crash, and sometimes burn, only to get up the next day and somehow manage to do it all over again. Instead of this less than desirable dwelling in the frantic, could we take a moment and consider Jesus’ personal invitation to us today?

He invites us to put down the busy in order to retreat with Him and grab some rest, some much needed rest for our souls. He calls us out of the stress and the pressures of life to regularly and repeatedly be with Him. Again and again and again. Not just on Sunday mornings. Not just at mid-week Bible study. Do we take Him up on His offer? Do we prioritize refreshment? Or do we keep putting it off, thus depleting our very souls one day, one hour, and one minute at a time?

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to burn out. And as much as there are things to get done, and my own “to do” list seems to keep growing with each passing moment, I have learned to come to the River of God when I’m thirsty and to run to His Word when I’m in need of strength. When I feel the adrenaline kicking in, I know it’s probably been a bit too long since I retreated with my King.

Are you in need of some rest today, friends? Jesus is calling.

“Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” – Jesus (Mark 6:31b)