Weary

Photograph: fedrelena/Getty Images/iStockphoto

“Hey, how are you? You’re tired?

How tired?

Oh, you’ve never been this tired in all your life kind of tired? You dream of sleeping for 10 years tired? Every part of you is tired, even your hair?

Yeah same”

Guardian, ‘Rest is on the other side of exhaustion – promising to be an antidote. But do we even know how to rest?’ by Brigid Delaney

So what’s your weariness rating today?

This article gave me words to describe how I’m feeling, It spoke to my weariness and helped me see that I’m not alone. There is something so deeply troubling in our society right now. As many have said this is the pandemic after the pandemic. Brigid helpfully continues… “Rest is on the other side of exhaustion – promising to be an antidote. But do we even know how to rest? Properly rest, with no stimuli? Our dopamine-addicted brains have been jacked up for years on notifications, social media likes, watching Netflix while tweeting while texting, etc. Neurons drenched in stimuli, our fight or flight response activated for almost two years – how do we recover? We’ll have to learn a whole new way of being. There’s no one there to show us. There’s no profit to be made from rest“.

So we’re exhausted from being exhausted and there’s no one to even show us the way. This simply could not get more depressing.

Yet Christmas, ancient wisdom whispers a secret we need to hear. “O Holy night” the well known Carol song says this…

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn’
Fall on your knees, o hear the angels’ voices
O night divine, o night when Christ was born
O night divine, o night, o night divine

Could this be the new way of being?

Could this be the one to show us the way?

Could this be the antidote?

Imagine…

A burden that is light.

A way of being that is kindness.

An antidote that not only shows us the way but is the way.

For all those who are weary of being weary. Choose this way. This new morn. Christ of this carol says come to me all you who are weary and I will give you rest.