Rainy Days and Mondays

It’s Monday and I’m tired.

Mondays are weird days for pastors. Our energy is spent, yet we know that no matter what the week brings, next Sunday is coming. The week will be filled with phone calls, texts, visits, staff meetings, and conversations. In all of this, there’s preparing Wednesday’s devotional and Sunday’s sermons. On Monday, this all seems a bit much.

In college and seminary, I diagnosed myself with “syllabus shock.” Each semester, on the first day of class, the professor would pass out the syllabus, review it, and then my panic would set in. How could I possibly do all of this work? There’s no way I’m going to pass this class. I’ll have to quit school, get a dog and cardboard sign, and sit by I-40 for the rest of my life.

I know. It was a bit of an over-the-top reaction.

I began typing this blog on Monday afternoon. My computer says that it is 2:29 PM. Yesterday, according to a text message that I sent to Donna about supper, I walked out of the church at 7:15 PM. It was a really good Sunday. I taught my Sunday school class, preached an evangelistic morning message, spoke about the tabernacle on Sunday night, and met with the deacons after church. My Hardee’s Frisco Burger tied the day into a nice bow.

Those sermons, the Sunday school lesson, and the items I brought up in the deacons meeting took all week to put together. I delivered everything I prepared and was empty—a good empty, but empty all the same.

I sat down this morning and began working towards next Sunday. I’m continuing to preach through John 11-17. On Sunday nights, we’re moving into Numbers. Wednesday nights are in Matthew. As an introvert, study time rejuvenates me, but I still experience a bit of syllabus shock each week.

The thing that keeps me going is the clarity of my call.  I have never doubted that God called me to be a pastor. He fashioned me this way. It’s not a job. It’s who I am. This truth allows me to see those empty moments for what they are—fulfillments of my calling. This calling drives me to continue to dive into the Bible each week, so that I bring a fresh word from God.

What has God called you to do?

Are you tired?

Are you empty?

God calls us to be His children, to be spouses, to be single, to be family, to be church members, to be employees and employers, and to be missionaries to the lost. Those callings look different for each of us. They can also sap our spiritual strength.

It is okay to be tired in the Lord. Many have correctly said that while we may be tired in the work, we are never tired of the work.

Hebrews 12:1-3 says, “1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart (NASB).”

Don’t lose heart. God called you.

Do you have days that empty you?

Rest in that emptiness. The only way you know that you are empty is because you were full.

God fills us by empowering us through the Holy Spirit. When we obey that filling to the point of emptiness, we give back to Him the very spiritual energy He gave to us.

Rest in a job well done.