“The antidote to exhaustion is not necessarily rest.”
“What is it, then?”
“The antidote to exhaustion is wholeheartedness.”
David Whyte, Crossing the Unknown Sea
Hello, my friends!
The first time I read that line above, it didn’t really sink in. Because I was sitting on the back of a boat on a surf trip in the Maldives and was totally relaxed. The trip was just what I needed…warm water, beautiful sunsets, great friends, and really fun waves. Everything I thought I needed.
Life was simpler back then. At least it felt that way. That pre-pandemic world we all miss so much. But truthfully, there were deeper signs already emerging of stress and worry that would ultimately lead to exhaustion that rest couldn’t heal. These were matters of my heart. Of integrity. Of living in that place of honesty, transparency, and vulnerability.
I have often navigated through life by guarding and protecting my heart, especially the areas I’ve felt self-conscious about. I learned to hold my cards close to my chest when emotions were concerned. And while this may have served me well for a time, the price of this lack of congruence was stress and strain I couldn’t escape from. It followed me into those places of retreat and rest. Quiet only made things worse.
It wasn’t until I broke out with shingles that I was forced to pay attention to these deeper, underlying issues. As if my body was saying, “no more hiding.” It is time to let your whole heart speak.
But it was more than my heart speaking to me. I have watched God, over the years, push and prod me forward into these places of tenderness and fragility. Because these areas need to not merely heal. They need to come alive. God is after our whole hearts.
Wholeheartedness takes so much courage. It requires us to be seen just as we are, warts and all. It requires accepting and even embracing uncomfortable truths. And only in this place of meekness and vulnerability, can we understand who we truly are in God’s eyes. His child. And He is our Father. Our Abba.
To live with this trust, we must know that we are loved. That God knows our hearts better than we do. And that we can trust His love to heal us, restore us, and set us free.
Jeremiah 29:12-13 says, "Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
I sure love you guys!
Jeff