What does the perfect weekend look like to you? Is it one where you get a dozen tasks accomplished off your checklist? Is it one where you spend time in beautiful weather? Maybe for you, the perfect weekend is about quiet rest and a comforting snack. Whatever weekend you’re thinking of, I bet it sounds pretty good. You’d probably sleep with a smile after experiencing it. It maye come as a surprise then when I tell you I had a nearly perfect weekend, and it left me feeling depressed.
Why would a perfect weekend leave me bummed? And what does that have to do with cats, since “feline” is in the title of this piece? Well, let’s start with the first question. Pretty much every moment of my recent weekend was filled with activity. A beach cookout with friends, a trip to a theme park, a chance to sit on a bench swing and talk about life, an amazing sermon with my church family, and not one but two different gaming sessions with friends. Sprinkled in and around that, God strengthened me against temptations, opened my eyes to his wonders in the world, and helped me to make progress on a life goal he’s called me toward.
During the weekend, all of this was amazing. However as the weekend drew to a close, I realized just how much more hadn’t been done. I hadn’t had time to make a grocery run. Dishes and laundry were both piling up. The trash can was nearly overflowing. My home desk had become exceptionally disorganized. Three friend groups were waiting on me to provide information I promised. Suddenly all the amazing activities of the weekend felt like distractions. Monday was nearly upon me, and would bring with it a whole host of new responsibilities. The weight of it all fueled my stress, and my stress in turn fueled my depression.
Despite my “perfect weekend”, I did not sleep well that last night. As I prayed to God through stressful and tired tears, I was reminded of my cats. They are a lot like life. One moment they’re beautiful, kind, soft creatures that bring me joy and comfort. The next moment they are wild, out of control, making a mess and leaving me frustrated. Life is like that too. For both cats and life, they don’t change between those moments, but how we focus on them does. My weekend was jam-packed full of blessings, but at the end of it I chose to focus on my own limitations, instead of God’s provision.
This is where I went wrong. My mistake wasn’t in letting chores build up, or failing to handle more tasks, my failure was ultimately in looking to my own ability instead of God’s. I can’t control my cats. I can attempt to train them, I can love and care for them, but sometimes they will still drive me crazy. Similarly, I can’t control my life. I can try to organize it, I can work hard, I can (and should) show love and respect through it. Sometimes it’s still going to be stressful, even while it’s beautiful.
The hardest thing to do when life builds up over you is to put it all aside and seek a quiet moment with God, but it’s worth doing. Sometimes it’s easy to drop everything when we want to focus on ourselves, but that doesn’t help us. No matter how much rest and care we give ourselves, we are still limited in our ability. God is not. There is no task he can’t accomplish, no mess he can’t clean, no situation he can’t handle. Every life on this planet he can guide, love, and fully support all at once. And if life exists on other planets, he can handle those too.
Where ever you are in life, whatever you’re facing, remember the one who guides you through it. God will help you through the hard times in life. He will either deliver you from them, or use them to strengthen you, if you surrender to him. It’s taken me a long time to feel capable of surrendering to God, and I often still struggle. Each time I surrender to him, I have no regrets.
What truly made my weekend perfect isn’t what I accomplished, but that I got to spend my time in relationship with my heavenly father.
Matthew 7:7 (ESV) – Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
Philippians 2:13 (ESV) – For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Romans 8:28 (ESV) – And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Matthew 6:34 (NIV) – Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.