Walking With the Word

I really struggled to get out of bed this Sunday morning. To be honest getting up is often the hardest thing I have to do each day. Once I am up and about and slowly and methodically going through my morning routine, my brain and body slowly come to life.

Chronic Fatigue plagues my days and has forced me to take stock of every aspect of my life (more on that another time perhaps). It can often take me up to an hour from waking up to actually getting up. Without fail I feel just horrendous – in fact, I usually feel more tired than when I go to bed. Why is this relevant? After a very busy time away with our son and his wife, I am absolutely wiped, and it is acutely affecting how I am able to function.

We have been back just under a week and I am still recovering from the impact the trip has had on me. This doesn’t, of course, take anything away from how much we enjoyed the trip and from how much we appreciated all that we did; it was simply amazing – holiday of a lifetime – kinda stuff! Having been away almost 3 weeks, as usual there was a lot of catching up to do with emails and admin deadlines to meet.

One morning I sat feeling pretty rough and sorry for myself, and unusually for me, felt like I just didn’t care about any of it – I just needed it all to stop and go away, I felt that horrid! Sometimes, professionally, I don’t feel like I am doing enough, reaching enough people or getting the stuff done that I want to do to advance my personal development or the ministry; the limitations are very frustrating indeed. Well, I muddled through anyway and got my stuff done.

Meanwhile, its Sunday morning and we have managed to get ourselves organised and to the church. The sermon was on Colossians 4:7-18 – Paul’s personal messages at the end of the letter. The visiting speaker encouraged us to think about how we can encourage and take care and have concern for one another; to persevere and to see to it that we are taking care of business and being the best we can be in regards to ministry.

“See to it that you fulfil the ministry you received in the Lord”

Colossians 4:17

My takeaways from all that the preacher said were to keep going and that each individual that you speak to is making a difference. He told the story of the little boy on a beach throwing stranded starfish back into the sea to save them. When challenged about how little difference that makes to the hundreds of starfish stranded there, the little boy picked up another, threw it into the sea and said, “It made a difference to that one!” That really encouraged me to realise that I may not be speaking to many people, but the ones I am speaking to count for a lot. And so, I am to keep going as the Lord enables and makes opportunity.

Life can be pretty hard sometimes and trying to fulfil the calling upon our lives can seem endless and fruitless. But as long as we are doing it, we can be sure that the Lord is using our meagre efforts to make a big difference in a lost, blind and hopeless world full of people in need of Jesus. So whether you are in ministry, working a job, in education, running a home or raising a family – keep going and continue to fulfil the ‘ministry’ God has placed before you at this season of your life.