One of my biggest pet peeves (and a chore that I do not look forward to) is grocery shopping. Not that I mind going to the store, nor meeting the many people that I inevitably meet and chat with during my shopping experience - but rather, I find the routine of shopping rather tedious.
First, you have to get your shopping cart. Some grocery stores have a coin-operated mechanism to unlock the cart from the rest of the shopping cart train, a requirement that seems simple enough until you realize that you haven't brought any coins. So, it's off to the customer service desk to beg a quarter to liberate the shopping cart for use. Next comes the arduous task of selecting just the right products that your wife has so lovingly sent you to the store to get. You have to take the item off the shelf and then place it in the cart. Then, you wheel the cart (I always choose the cart that has the bent front wheel) to the checkout stand and take your items from the cart and put them on the conveyor belt. Next, you take the bags off the conveyor belt and put them back into the cart and once again wheel the cart to the car - whereupon you once again wrestle the bags from the cart into the car. Finally, you can dispose of the cart with the crooked wheel back at the cart stall in the middle of the parking lot.
When you get home, then comes the joyous task of unloading the bags of groceries from the car (most of them have toppled over by now and have dumped their contents all over the trunk of the car) and drag them into the house where you search frantically for a place to put the groceries, discovering in the meantime that your children have helped themselves to the only remaining morsels of food in the house - peanut butter and crackers - and have conveniently left the tale of their escapades all over the countertop. Placing the bags of groceries on the floor, you proceed to unpack the contents of the bags, finally finding their proper place in the refrigerator and cupboards. All in all, you've handled the groceries no less than seven times! No wonder the exercise is such a chore!
Sometimes life can seem like a grocery shopping experience. Sometimes the rhythm of life can seem mundane, tiresome and even down-right frustrating.
Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Mt. 11:28-29)"
In Jesus, the weary and tiresome cares that each and every one of us struggle with are lightened. Jesus does not promise to take the burdens away from us, but rather, offers a means for us to cope better, to endure longer and to develop the internal resolve to face each of our challenges head-on with Him as our guide.
If you are weary and burdened, Jesus offers rest to you. To learn more, please feel free to send me an email or visit one of the many Christian churches in our community.
