Back when my grandmother was a young girl it's the term they used for tuberculosis. Webster's defines it now as 'using up of goods'. I think it's a good way to describe how I'm feeling right now - mentally, physically, emotionally, and even spiritually. All used up.

We're back from our trip to Texas, and leaving in eleven days for a week in Canada. I like summer to be hotter than heck, and Texas fit the bill perfectly. We found the home we've been praying over for about 18 months. It's everything we hoped for and more, so there's much to rejoice over. Canada will be pure bliss - our daughter, Leslie, her husband Jeremy and their 'stinkin' cute' 2 year old Landon will be going with us to spend a kick-back week in a cabin on some lake two hours north of Toronto, then stopping on the way back for a day at Niagara Falls including riding the Maid of the Mist. We've already decided to make it an annual tradition! Don and Jeremy are spending one day hiring a fishing guide in hopes Don can catch a muskellunge. Most men never catch one in a lifetime and Jeremy assures him for a price he can catch at least one.

Isn't life just like that - past weeks too full of good stuff, and right around the corner is a plate too full of what needs to be done, even if it's just packing the car for a road trip with a toddler. I don't know about you, but when I start to feel like this, it's time to find some pockets of time to just 'be' rather than 'do'. I imagine many of you are busy shopping for school clothes and supplies, and calming the fears that come with a new school year, or maybe it's dropping that almost-grown kid off at college, or last trips to the pool, picnics, ballgames, picking summer's harvest and tidying up the flowerbeds that are starting to look a little raggedy. We all have a list that presses on us. Even good pressing down tends to make your chest feel tight.

I'm going to start, today, by grabbing a glass of iced tea, and a book, heading to the sofa for just a bit. That's bound to help, Remembering this will too:

"As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. For He knows what we are made of, remembering that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass - he blooms like a flower of the field; when the wind passes over it, it vanishes, and its place is no longer known. But from eternity to eternity the Lord's faithful love is toward those who fear Him, and His righteousness toward the grandchildren of those who keep His covenant, who remember to observe His instructions. The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all. Praise the Lord, all His angels of great strength, who do His word, ....My soul, praise the Lord!" Psalm 103:13-22

This feeling will pass, this day will pass. I can take it one day at a time, til I'm feeling a little less consumed. Nobody expects 'vanishing grass' to be made of tough stuff.

Labels: Glimpse of the Heart