By Tanya Jolliffe
What new roles have you taken on recently? Homeschool teacher? Remote learner? Home office worker? Master of virtual meetings? Counselor, encourager, chef, and creative director? Have these new roles also brought up new feelings of not being enough? If so, you are not alone. Taking on new roles during these unprecedented times seems to have brought out many uncertainties and not feeling enough is just one of them.
Recently a friend shared sentiments of feeling like she was not enough. As she talked, she realized it is something she has subtly dealt with for many years. However, with all the new roles she had taken on, the feelings of not being enough were taking deeper root. This is a feeling I could certainly relate to. I have been there, done that and have the medal to show for it. Like many other women, I have battled for many years with feelings of not being enough, doing enough, and knowing enough. Satan has used those feelings to tell me lies that I need to do better, do more, and do it differently to achieve. It has been one of the most effective avenues the evil one has used to trick me and alter my thoughts and decisions.
In Matthew 11:29-30, Jesus beckons us to learn from him to ease our burdens of inadequacy.
“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Did you see it? Gentle and humble in heart. Paul re-enforces this call to be gentle and humble in Ephesians 4:2, “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”
This call includes being humble, gentle, and loving of ourselves, especially in times of uncertainty: a humbleness in the expectation that we should be able to know it all, do it all, and be everything for everyone, and a gentleness and quietness that understands these are states of the Spirit and not a behaviors. Peter reminds us in 1 Peter 3:4, “Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.”
Being humble and gentle in spirit requires us to yield to the thoughts and feelings that pervade. Feelings of inadequacy and thoughts of comparison can take root and cause us to forget the truth of WHO we are and WHOSE we are. So how can we find this humble and gentle heart? By yoking ourselves to Christ!
A yoke is a harness type mechanism to keep oxen or other animals tethered together. It is worn on the neck and shoulders to ease the burden and pain of the work they are doing together. When we yoke ourselves to Christ, we connect to him, follow his guidance, and take his lead. The tasks and decisions we have to make become less taxing when we allow Christ to take some of the burden through reliance on his word. The closer we work with him, the more we take on his character. This ultimately allows the Holy Spirit to cultivate these important fruits in us, fruits that will help us turn away from the acts of the flesh and the mindset the evil one loves to use against us.
I have found in my walk that the closer I am connected to Jesus, am yoked to him, the less I hear or believe what the evil one is whispering in my ear. I can learn from His word and rest in the realization that to Him, I am enough. As long as I am connected to him and following his lead, I will do just what he calls me to do, when he calls me to do it, and that is ALWAYS enough.
