This meditation is for you.
The one who takes care of everyone else.
The one who checks on everybody.
But doesn't get checked on.
The one who holds it together at the bedside.
In the meeting.
At the dinner table.
In the middle of the night.
Beloved,
Do you realize that you've been so busy pouring out?
That you're running dry.
And no one has poured back into you.
Someone needs to take care of you today.
Will you let God do that?
Now,
Take a breath.
Not a quick one,
But a real breath.
The kind you haven't taken all day.
Breathe in deeply through your nose.
And as you exhale,
Let it go.
Beloved,
Let it all go.
Again,
Inhale,
Filling your lungs this time.
Breathing in deeply.
And exhale slowly.
Releasing the day from your body.
One more.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Releasing the heaviness from your mind.
When was the last time someone took care of you?
When was the last time someone asked how you were doing and actually waited for the real answer?
When was the last time you didn't have to be the strong one?
I want you to know you don't have to be strong right now.
Just be here.
Present.
With the Lord.
Jesus said,
Come to me all who are weary and burdened.
And I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you.
And learned from me.
For I am gentle and humble in heart.
And you will find rest for your souls.
He says,
Come to me.
Not come to me after you finish your long shift and not come to me after every one is settled.
He says,
Come to me now.
As you are.
Come to me with the exhaustion still in your bones.
Come to me with the worry still in your chest.
Come to me with the resentment you feel guilty about.
Still sitting in the pit of your stomach.
Come exactly as you are.
History doesn't offer advice.
He offers rest.
Rest for your soul.
That deep place that no vacation reaches.
The part of you that's been tired for months.
Maybe years.
Jesus says he can reach that place.
The psalmist wrote.
Praise be to the Lord.
To God our Savior,
Who daily bears our burdens.
Daily.
Not once or occasionally.
But daily.
Every single day.
God is carrying what you are carrying.
You feel the weight.
But you're not burying it alone.
He has been under it with you.
Today.
Even yesterday.
Every day you thought you were doing it by yourself.
The Lord was with you.
Isaiah gives us this image of God.
He tends to his flock like a shepherd.
He gathers the lambs in his arms.
And carries them close to his heart.
He gently leaves those that have young.
Those who are caring for others.
Those who have people depending on them.
You see,
God doesn't push them harder.
He leaves them gently.
He knows you're caring more than yourself.
He knows your pace is slower because you're tending to someone else.
And beloved.
He adjusts his stride to match yours.
You're not falling behind because you're a caregiver.
God sees the wait.
And He walks with you.
There's a story in Exodus about Moses.
A leader who was caring for an entire nation.
During a battle.
Israel only won while Moses held his arms up.
But his arms grew tired.
He couldn't hold them up anymore.
And the Bible says.
Aaron and her took a stone.
And put it under him.
And he sat on it.
Then Aaron and her.
Held his arms up.
One on one side.
And one on the other.
So that his hands remain steady until sunset.
Moses' arms got tired.
The leader.
The one God spoke to face to face.
Even his arms got tired.
And God didn't scold him.
God sent people to hold him up.
You see,
You were never meant to hold your arms up alone.
And it is not weakness to need someone to hold them for you.
So let this meditation be your errand in her today.
Let God hold you up.
Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you.
He will never let the righteous be shaken.
He will sustain you.
Not the person you're caring for.
Though he sustains them too.
He will sustain you.
The caregiver needs sustaining.
The strong one needs strength poured back into them.
The one who feeds everyone else needs to be fed.
Paul wrote,
But he said to me,
My grace is sufficient for you.
For my power is made perfect in weakness.
His power is made perfect in weakness.
That means your exhaustion is not a disqualification.
Oh beloved,
It's an invitation.
When you reach the end of yourself.
And you may be there right now.
That's where God's power begins.
Not as a replacement for your effort.
But as a completion of it.
You bring what you have.
Even when it's not enough.
And God makes up the difference.
You have been enough.
Even on the days it didn't feel like it.
Even when you forgot the appointment.
Snapped at the person you love.
Cried in the car on the way home.
Grace covered it.
And grace covers it still.
The Apostle John wrote something unusual.
A prayer that most people skip over.
But today is yours.
Dear Friend I pray that you may enjoy good health.
And all that may go well with you.
Even as your soul is getting along well.
This is the Bible giving you permission.
To be cared for.
To enjoy good health.
Not just manage someone else's.
For all to go well with you.
Not just the person on your caseload or in your home.
Your well-being matters to God.
You are not just a vessel for service.
You are a beloved child who deserves care.
Rest.
And wholeness.
And finally.
.
.
There's a woman in Genesis named Hagar.
She was a servant.
Unseen.
Used.
Discarded by the people who should have cared for her.
She ran into the desert alone,
Pregnant.
Exhausted invisible.
And God met her there.
In the wilderness.
And he saw her.
And Hagar gave God a name no one else had given him.
She called him Elroy.
The God who sees me.
The God who sees me.
If you felt invisible.
If you've been caring for others while no one cares for you.
If you've wondered whether anyone notices what you sacrifice.
Hear this.
God sees you.
Elroy sees the midnight wake-ups.
He sees the extra shift.
He sees the meals you skipped so someone else could eat.
Oh,
He sees the tears you try to hide.
He sees the love you give when you have nothing left.
Beloved,
You are not invisible.
You are seen by the Most High God.
As we close,
Receive this closing blessing.
Don't deflect.
Don't pass it on to someone else.
This is for you.
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May He give you rest that restores.
Sleep that heals.
And a deep knowing that you are loved.
Not for what you do.
But for who you are.
You are more than your service.
You are beloved.
Breathe in.
.
.
Breathe out.
Rest for a moment.
God sees you.
And he watches over you,
Day and night.
Shalom.
