"I don't want to do this anymore!"

How are you doing in these days and weeks before Christmas? Cooking, shopping, writing out and mailing cards and packages can seem so rough, can't it? Are there times when you just toss up your hands and say, "I don't want to do this anymore?"

Or how about when Life throws you a curve ball? A job loss, an illness, some setback that makes you clutch your chest and gasp...and again, that exclamation of, "I don't want to do this anymore?!"

If you are human, then you have been there and done that. I know you have. We all have.

I think about the Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Imagine being a "young girl," (scholars have her at about 13-15 years of age.) She is married off to an older man, knowing that she is going to give birth to a baby, although she has never been intimate with anyone. I remember when I was that age, how naive I was. This must have just floored her! Even when I was 25 and pregnant for the first  time, I felt so many things and had so many questions and yes, when the morning sickness got so bad, I also said, "I don't want to do this anymore!" Yet she did do it--and willingly. Without hesitation, when the Angel Gabriel told her that she would conceive a son and name Him Jesus, her answer was: "be it done to me according to your word!"

Wow...there was no, "well, I have to ask my ma first" or "I need to discuss this with my future husband," or even, "wow! What about my reputation?" These were dangerous times back then. She could have faced stoning for her supposed "adultery." But she didn't. Joseph stayed with her, even though he found the news preposterous...yes, even he probably thought, "I don't want to do this anymore!" His faith allowed him to stick with her, thus giving Jesus a home.

I ponder often the many times I have been frustrated and replied to God in prayer, "I don't want to do this anymore!" As I converse with Him, I find that my "I don't...!" becomes, "I don't think I can!" to finally, "Yes Lord, You and I, together we got this!"

Today...look at what frustrates you...give it all up to God. Because, you know what? Between you and Him...He's got this!
Amen!