Enduring or Abiding?

Calling all weary warriors! This post is for you, moms.

Enduring or Abiding?

Calling all weary warriors! This post is for you, moms. The brave, passionate, loyal and quite frankly... tired. I have a question for you: What’s keeping you going these days? How are your moving from week to week, day to day, moment to moment? What truths are your standing on today? Are you even standing at all? If you’re anything like me, we tend to fall into patterns of simply enduring. Drink coffee, bear down, endure, repeat...

But Scripture calls us higher. John 15:4 reads:
“ Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.” So I ask again: how are you managing? How are you fulfilling the calling to which the Lord has commissioned you?

Are you living like an abiding branch? Are you leaning to your own understanding? (Proverbs 3:5). We are all tempted to do so. We all fall into patterns of self-sufficiency and leaning on what seemingly worked for us the last time instead of going to our Father for fresh renewal and strength. Might I encourage you, dear Sister, to drink anew from the well that never runs dry.

One of my favorite passages in this season is found in the English Standard Version of Matthew 11:28. It reads:

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Such simplicity and encouragement comes from this invitation to rest in the Lord when we are weary of doing things our way. Just think: when you observe a fruit-bearing tree, it’s strikingly obvious that the fruit isn’t really doing anything noticeably dynamic. Usually fruit is simply... there. But healthy fruit is connected and abiding in the life of the branch.

Truthfully, sometimes health living looks like... nothingness. Sometimes it comes across as too still, too slow, too unproductive. Color me guilty because I’m right in that same boat with you. I’m guilty of taking on too much, wanting to churning out results like a machine, and wanting life on my terms. This leads to turning my nose up at the sight of another who can’t quite “get it together.” I’m guilty of requiring standards of others that the Lord has not required of them. I’m guilty of placing undue burdens on those around me.

“ ‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus Just to take Him at His Word
Just to rest upon His promise Just to know “Thus saith the Lord” (Kirkpatrick and Stead)

Oh how those words penned long ago need to ring in our hearts and minds when we are deep in the trenches of our busy and overwhelmed moments. Do we rest upon His promise? Do we truly take Him at His Word? Or do we debate and reason when it’s time to do choose between leaning on the Lord and loving our own ways.

Weary warriors, sometimes the best weapon for the task at hand is rest. How are you resting, trusting, abiding? How are you modeling for your family the beauty of these ways of walking with the Lord. Are you bearing fruit or manufacturing fruit-like results? Are others being nourished by the fruit that you bear or are they surprised to find something plastic and only for show? As we start this school year, may we be found abiding in the True Vine. May the Lord grow us in true fruitfulness. Selah.

Categories: : homeschooling, Jesus, Devotional, Moms