“Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30
Before Thanksgiving I told Meighan that I was ready to charge through life. I told her I’d become an armadillo, roll up in a ball with my protective shell on the outside, and just power through everything. Not because of a sudden surge of confidence or feeling like I was the most powerful being on the planet, but because life was about to become so chaotic.
Not that it wasn’t already…
In November alone, I ran a half marathon in Florida, flew to California the following day, and came back to Hawaii the day after. There were a few days of work, and then I had a bridal shower and bachelorette party. Then was the madness of packing and moving consumed my whole week. I literally spent each day eating frozen pizzas and filling boxes. Then Thanksgiving and Black Friday and Black Saturday and Sunday. I clocked over 20 hours at the mall. A few more days of work, and then it was another flight to California. Parent teacher conferences from “home” and Disneyland with holiday decorations. I flew back to Hawaii on a Sunday, immediately landed, and then went to Longs to get my flu shot and Covid booster. I called out sick on Monday, worked a few more days, and then a wedding on Saturday.
All this to say, everything leading up to this point has been wild. Not just my usual 40-hour work week with two evenings at Bar Method wild. But like all over the country wild.
Last weekend Jonah came up to me, gave me a hug, and said, “Meg do you even live on island anymore?” And it was the best thing I’ve heard all year.
And you would think by this point I would have completely lost it. Like my head should have fallen off months ago. Probably after the second European trip in two months. Or maybe even after the sixth cross country flight. Definitely should have flown off after the full weekend of marathon races. But somehow, it hasn’t.
It is truly by the grace of God that it hasn’t.
Because even though my feet feel like they’ve been floating mid-air for weeks, I’ve been anchored by all the great places I’ve been, great food I’ve eaten, and great people I’ve been lucky enough to spend time with. My mom and sister in Prague. My birthday in Paris. My miss Mel in Disney World. My group chat at Disneyland. My Sabrina at her wedding. God has taken me everywhere with everyone I love.
Then every night… After long hours with needy tiny humans who think I’m a climbing structure and crawl their way onto my lap. Or after hour long workouts that leave my thighs shaking almost immediately as the exercise begins. Or just days when I’m constantly cleaning and organizing and unpacking only for it to feel like there’s still a mess everywhere. Every night I open my devotional, and God is there.
He’s the same and my chaos doesn’t change that.
He doesn’t add to the chaos, and He doesn’t make me feel terrible for being so busy that I haven’t been to church in months. He just is.
And amidst everything that spirals and shifts and changes around me, that’s all I need. Something and someone who just is.