Thriving...in Spite of It

Every day, in some way or another, we seem to come up short. Our output exceeds our income, and we are "in the red" when it comes to so many things, such as time, energy, money...even enthusiasm. Being tapped out seems to have become the norm, as we chase every opportunity, pursue countless friendships, enlist ourselves in every new cause, and rack up accomplishments, jam-packing our resumes, calendars, and Facebook friends list until we don't have a single spare moment to ourselves. From the outside, it looks like a "full life;" on the inside, it feels pretty empty. How can something so empty feel so heavy? First of all, "more" isn't necessarily "better." Have you ever been behind a group of tween girls ordering their drinks in a coffee shop? They like the fru-fru girly coffees, with lots of sugar, calories, and every possible option, extra this, extra that...Aside from taking FIVE-EVER (I just learned this term from my daughter-...

It's Monday, again, and in the afterglow of a weekend of wonderful worship and refreshing family fun, we plunge back into the doldrums of daily duties with revived enthusiasm. Then it hits--the feeling of dread, restlessness, irrelevance. However delightful and favorable your workplace may be, you're probably feeling it today--like a kid stomping back to school after a four-day weekend, sullen-faced, heavy-hearted, and distracted. Mom used to call it the "don't want-to's." Yes, that's it--don't want to be here, don't want to do this---"can't adult today," as my daughter, working her way through college, now says. The expression has come full circle, evolving into Millineal-ese, but the feeling equally familiar to us all. We all occasionally have a sense of not belonging--or at least, not belonging  here , and it has little to do with situational discontent, especially after a break from your usual rolling mountain of duties. The ...