Under the Weather

Some days you just don’t feel like yourself.  You don’t feel like you can accomplish much, or even feel like trying.  You mind is foggy, the body is tired, and you’d rather do nothing more than curl up in bed under the covers.  We all have those days, but we don’t always get the luxury of hiding under the covers.  We have to get up, get motivated, and accomplish our daily tasks.  For the Christian, how we feel is irrelevant.  Our motivation is irrelevant.  What is relevant is that we continue to be in submission and do what is asked of us.

I am not sassing that if we are sick that we need to go into work and push ourselves to the point of collapse.  That is not what I am talking about.  What I am talking about is attitude.  Often when we don’t feel well, we can get cranky, short with others, short tempered, and self-focused.   We can get whiny and complain a lot when we don’t feel right.   

When we are not at our best, what is on the inside comes out.  I heard it explained this way before.  When someone is carrying around a cup, you don’t really know what is inside.  Then when the person gets jostled, what is inside the cup comes out, exposing the contents of the cup spills out for all to see, often making a mess.  We are like this too.  When we don’t feel well, what is inside our hearts comes spilling out.  Our hearts are laid bare when we are unable to support the walls we have built to hide it.

Hebrew 4:13 says Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

We can hide our hearts from others, but we can’t hide them from God.  Be sure too that God will expose to us and others what our heart is.  It is during times of hardship and illness that we have that heart exposed.  It is an opportunity for us to learn about ourselves and to ask God to work on those areas of weakness exposed.  It may also show us where we are in Him.  We may just as well be happily surprised at how our actions in those conditions may show us how we have grown in the Lord and compare how you might have acted in the past differently.

Surely these times will come.  It is just a part of life.  Let those times be a time of learning.  How we conduct ourselves during these times can also be one of the greatest witnesses we have of our faith in the Lord and may just be a difference maker to someone who is quietly seeking to see if your faith is really true before they commit.