I’ve been praying about what I’m about to share with you.

Can I ask for a few minutes of your time to read it all?

Simply put, I get it.

Weariness is a bully.

It hasn’t stopped knocking… and knocking… and knocking… pounding on your soul’s “door” – a door that can feel thinner some days than you’d like it to.

I’ve heard it, too, all throughout the past several months. And I’ve wondered as well how to keep everything that matters going without letting weariness end up rattling me from the inside, too.

It’s why I want to remind you that the work we’re doing is good work.

And also to impart a skill… something that seems counterintuitive –

that there’s a way to pause and face the weariness rather than ignore it or reactively trim good things out of our life we know are there for a reason.

I was recently reminded of this when I watched a runner pause and do a sort of half-stop. It lasted just for a few moments and, if that’s all you saw, you’d probably assume they were done running.

(Ever assume you’re done “running” when you pause?)

But instead, this runner used the pause to stretch, breathe, and reclaim their drive. Not only did what happened next as they stepped forth into running again reveal adrenaline in their body, but also a purpose in step and joy in face.

The analogy couldn’t be clearer.

How many of us in multiple areas of life have been trying to get through the next day, and the next day, and the next day? So much so that we haven’t taken as many moments as we could’ve to do a runner’s pause?

How many of us have considered quick actions to resolve the slow trickle of fatigue?

This is why Galatians 6:9 challenges, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” 

Because… it’s possible to grow weary in doing GOOD. (WOW.)

I like this photo… a student with that verse right there on top.

Because the work we’re doing is good work.

But we can’t do it without the proper pause built into our lives. We ask the wrong questions when it isn’t there.

For too long throughout this pandemic, I’ve asked the question, “What do we need to do to keep the good work going?”

I’ve realized the better question is “What do we get to do in the lives of students because we’re letting God do it in us first?”

This is why God said it matters to work six days and use the seventh for a weekly Sabbath of restoration. Because the work matters, and so does the regular pause. So…

  • What if you today settled in on the regular “pause” that works for you? For some, it’s an evening time in the Bible. For others, it’s being still and enjoying God as you listen to and talk with Him. There’s no shortage of ideas, so do the one that you’ll actually do.  
  • What if you then took what you gained in your pause into your ministry at home, work and with students? I vary my time with God often… these days I’m finding joy in reading a Bible verse when I wake up and then going on a 20-minute bike ride before work so I can process it and show up to the office with my own soul-filled.

When we don’t do this, we quit good things that matter.

When we don’t do this, we mistake busyness for fruitfulness.

When we don’t do this, we invite collapse instead of creating a foundation.

Simply put, I get it.

Weariness is a bully.

It hasn’t stopped knocking… and knocking… and knocking… pounding on your soul’s “door.”

The only real solution? Ask Jesus to answer it instead. And let Him by letting Him in first.

Praying for us all, right now.

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” 

Tony Myles is a real guy on a real journey following a very real God. A national speaker and author of more than a dozen books, his latest release “If… What If?” was co-written with his son to help students and parents journey through the Bible and life together.

Tony’s served as a senior pastor, staff pastor, ministry mentor and church consultant. He oversees and leads the multi-site student ministry of Riverside Church in Big Lake, Minnesota where he regularly invests into leaders, families, and teenagers.

Tony and his bride Katie have been honeymooning for more than 25 years and have three kids from elementary age to college. If it’s a really good day, you’ll find him sipping on a fruit smoothie while playing video games with his family.