“I Can’t Even!”

I think we are in the part of the semester where students “can’t even”. This phrase was popular a few years ago and I still hear it from time to time. What is it that students “can’t” do? They can’t even… It is common to hear this when a student is exhausted, or ready to be done. They are so ready for the semester to be finished that they “can’t even”, they can’t handle what is going on around them whether it be exams, assignments, group projects, or events. It is around this time when we naturally start to see fewer students at our events. It is natural to have smaller groups, but it is still easy to overreact.  This happened to me this week. We had a smaller group at our Monday Night Devo, and my immediate reaction was to text every student, ask how they were doing, and encourage them to be here for the rest of our weekly events. Thankfully I didn’t do that because I honestly think it would’ve done more harm than good. It is easy to overreact, but it is at this time when we need to be calm. Students are BUSY with group assignments, exams, and other things they may be involved with. Right now, students aren’t looking for more to do, they are looking for rest! When we start seeing smaller numbers the natural thing to do is more, but often the right thing to do is slow down. I had to stop and take some time to understand why we had a smaller group, I had to ask myself what we could do to better meet the needs of our group at this time. The answer, as it often is, was we needed rest and prayer. Since August 15th we have been running non-stop. It is ok to take some time alone with God. Jesus did this several times after being busy in the places he visited.

Slowing down doesn’t mean that we stop, it means we take the time we need to rest or “recharge” and then we keep moving. Several times as Jesus attempted to go off to a quiet place and rest, he was followed, at these times Jesus didn’t get upset with those seeking him, he met their needs. No matter how much he was interrupted he still found the time to be alone with God and pray. One of my favorite examples of this is in Mark’s account of the Gospel, I will copy the whole story below.

30 The apostles *gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught. 31 And He *said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) 32 They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves. 33 The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities and got there ahead of them. 34 When Jesus went [q]ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things. 35 When it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and said, “[r]This place is desolate and it is already quite late; 36 send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves [s]something to eat.” 37 But He answered them, “You give them something to eat!” And they *said to Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred [t]denarii on bread and give them something to eat?” 38 And He *said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look!” And when they found out, they *said, “Five, and two fish.” 39 And He commanded them all to [u]sit down by groups on the green grass. 40 They [v]sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. 41 And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food and broke the loaves, and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them; and He divided up the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces, and also of the fish. 44 There were five thousand men who ate the loaves. 45 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the crowd away. 46 After bidding them farewell, He left for the mountain to pray. (Mark 6:30-45, NASB95)

Previously in Mark 6 Jesus had sent out the 12 and they had gone out to spread the news of him around, Then the author of Mark takes a moment to recount the story of John the Baptist’s death. Once the 12 returned to Jesus we see what happened here. Jesus tells them that it is time to rest (Mark 6:31), but they happen to be followed. How easy would it have been to say “Come on, we are trying to rest! Leave us alone!” but that is not in fact what happened, Jesus looked, and he felt compassion for those who were seeking him (6:34) and he fed them. He didn’t let his need for rest affect his compassion for people, he didn’t allow his need for rest to squander his mission in life. After feeding them he tells his disciples to go on ahead of him so that he could go up to the mountain and pray (6:45). Although he didn’t let his need for rest affect his mission and compassion, he also didn’t let business and distraction get in the way of rest and prayer.

I think we often fall on one side or the other of this dilemma, we stay busy, we keep running, till one day everything collapses around us, and we have nothing left to give. Or we rest, we stay still we become lazy, stagnant unwilling to move, unable to move. For those who stay busy, some they can run for months, maybe even years before this collapse, for others this collapse may only take a matter of days, but the collapse in inevitable. For those who rest too often, they get to a place where they are unable to move, they lose the ability to do the task at hand. Obviously, there must be a balance. We don’t want to collapse, but we also do want to be unable to move. Jesus did this well, he never let one need trump the other. He always made time for people, and for God. He never let his need for rest stop him from running, but he never let his running, keep him from rest. There was a balance! That is what we need in our lives. Don’t run so long that you collapse or burn out, but don’t rest so long that you lose your ability to run! I don’t think there is a specific formula to follow, everyone is going to be different, and your rest is going to look different, but keep in mind that the Lord rested on the 7th day, and he commanded his people to take a sabbath day. I think it is appropriate to briefly rest each day, and one day a week. If you feel like you have been running non-stop, I encourage you to find one day to sit and rest. If you feel like you have been resting so long, you forgot to how to run I encourage you to look at those around you, have compassion, and meet their needs.