Fitness Guide For The Weary Soul (I'm Pooped)

“Fitness Guide for the Weary Soul”

As summer vacations go… this vacation was nothing glamorous. It didn’t have the ZING of Disney World. It didn’t have the WOW of the Grand Canyon. But it was a trip that important to make. After several years away, the young family was going back “home” to the family farm. They didn’t stay in the Radison… they didn’t stay at the Ritz… the stayed with Uncle Bob and Aunt Beatrice in a small town with only a convenience store that closed at 5 pm.

Well, the day they had planned to go back to the farm where the husband had grown up, the little four year old boy wasn’t feeling the best, and it was decided that he should stay back with the Aunt so the rest of the family would not miss this rare opportunity to go back “home.”

Well… it may not surprise you what happened as soon as they left… a four year old… in a strange place… with strange people… not feeling well... saw his family drive away… and it was GO TIME! He began to scream MAMA! He then went on to cry for hours, and hours, sobbing for all he was worth… barely stopping to breath and catch his breath.

It was so bad, that when they came back several hours later, it took forever to get him calmed down. As they sat at the dinner table, the little boy still had a quivering little lip and still breathed heavy. The table… was silent.

Until finally, the little boy spoke up, the first words he’s spoken since they’d left that morning. “Mom… do you know what poop means?” If it’s possible… the table got even more quiet. What was she going to say? “Yes… I know what poop is!?” She decided to dodge the issue… “Eat your dinner sweaty.” This didn’t content the little boy. He had spent hours crying… he would be heard! “Well mom, pooped means tired… and BOY am I POOPED!”

Have you ever been pooped? Have you ever been plain worn out? Weary to the bone? Do you know what poop means? We have had a few rough months… and I don’t know about you… but I’m pooped. My soul… is weary. So what do we do as Christians... when we are maxed out? What can we do to rejuvenate a weary soul? I present to you “Fit Club 101 for the Weary Soul!”

Pray hard!

Nike… one of the top athletic shoe companies… has a lot of advertisements that encourage us to keep in good shape. One of their slogans really impressed me. It took the entire idea of “WORKING” out… and turned it into… “Play Hard!”

Well brothers and sisters… just like we need to “Play Hard!” to stay in good shape physically… we need to “Pray Hard!” to stay in good shape spiritually.

Whenever I find myself feeling distant from God, when I find that my spiritual life is drying up… I usually can also find that I’ve been neglecting my prayers, that I haven’t been talking to the one person I need to stay in contact with the most. If I was praying… it was short little prayers for meals and before beds. Like little text messages to Jesus That just doesn’t cut it. Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians challenges us to “pray without ceasing.” To live a life where we are constantly thinking about God, living in relationship with God, and talking with God. Now… I’ll be honest… I’ve never achieved this lofty goal of praying without ceasing, but the closer I’ve come… the closer God has felt.

There have been times, where I’ve been in a place where I’ve dedicated hours to non stop prayer, where as a Pastor… I’ve been with a family… and I pray my butt off. I’m talking non-stop prayer. And in that moment, I could see God present in the room, shedding light where it is needed.

So, when we are feeling distant from God… when our souls are feeling weary from our labors… my first point is “Pray Hard!” and you will be shocked at how much it will help.

Lift Weights!

My second point… as any dietician or personal trainer will tell you… if you are looking to get back into shape… lift weights. We can work our biceps… our triceps… our chest… our abs… but there is probably something else we could do with this to get a really good work out.

Now, in this book are words that will challenge us… words that will be hard to read… but there are also words of great comfort… “chicken soup for the soul” as they like to say. When we are at the end of our spiritual rope… it is time to grab a lifeline… and this is where you can find it. If you look up the word HELP in the bible… you will find it over 150 times. Half of them are people crying out for help… the other half tell us exactly where our help comes from… our help is in the name of the Lord.