Life and Rest for a Tired College Kid

Oh Lord, how do I feel this day? I know I shouldn’t...but the only word that comes to mind is tired. Why do I feel tired after a season that was supposed to allow for special reflection and rejuvenation? Why is weariness the defining characteristic of life? God, I am tired of being tired. Lord, I know that despite the media’s portrayal of a glorified young adulthood, my body is already wasting away. From our earliest days, our bodies are destined for exhaustion, for illness, and ultimately for death and decay. Why must this be our fate? Why must we, along with the rest of creation, groan, oh Lord (Romans 8:22)? And why must everything we experience carry the nauseating scent of death? Father, I know that by picking the forbidden fruit, we did this to ourselves. By our own disobedience, we turned on our clocks that now make that maddening ticking sound in our ears, day in and day out. We made our labor on this earth hard and wearisome. No wonder at nineteen years of age, I’m already exhausted. But tender Jesus, despite my weariness, today I choose to believe that in You there is rest. You entered our weary-prone, death-scented lives as one of us. Your blessed God-self accepted the same cursed human flesh that we all wear. You listened to the ticking of Your clock for 32 years (perhaps ticking much louder than the rest of ours), and then accepted the fate You did not deserve. Because You loved us. “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (Romans 8:24 b), I cry out. Who will give me a full life and satisfying rest? I know that You can and You will. “Thanks be to God- through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 8:25). Father, we praise You that in Christ, there is real, eternal life without the scent of death. And not only is there life but there is rest. You promise the heavy laden that if we come to You, You will grant us this Sabbath-filled life. Lord Jesus, You are my shepherd, and in You I lack no good thing. Even in my work, even in my daily walk through paths that look and feel like death, You, oh Lord, are granting me rest in pleasant places. And You protect me from all harm (Psalm 23), for you are the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep (John 10:11). Holy is Your Name. Lord, as all of the crazy hustle and bustle of the Christmas season comes to a close, let us find true rest for our bodies, minds, and spirits in the loving arms of You, our Redeemer, our Shepherd, and our Friend. Holy Spirit, minister this rest to our hearts, even as we work in a world that is still in bondage. We ask all of this in Your Name that has slain death once and for all. Amen.