Last week, I learned something so incredible, so life-changing, I can hardly speak of it. I don’t know whether to leap and dance and spin for joy or weep and wail and tear my clothes because I went so long without knowing.
Y’all.You can make up your bed while you’re still in it.
I’m not kidding. Apparently a few really smart, genius-type people have been hoarding this information from the rest of us for decades. Centuries, even. Last week, while binge-watching organizational videos (as opposed to actually organizing stuff, but that’s a whole ‘nother article) I ran across a video of a lady showing us how to make our beds. While we’re in it. I worry for her safety, once the bed-making super villains learn she released this information to the public.
In the video, she demonstrated by lying in her bed. She pulled the sheet over her and straightened it as best she could on either side of her. Then she pulled the blanket up and did the same thing. Layer by layer she went, ironing out the covers with her hands while she stretched and yawned.
Then—and this is the amazing part—she slid out of bed, between the already-straight covers. All she had to do was smooth a few wrinkles, straighten the pillows, and voila! Her bed was made.
I was skeptical at first. But the next morning I tried it. Lo and behold, it worked! Two minutes, tops, as opposed to the seven-and-a-half minutes it took before. And it looked like a picture shoot from Good Housekeeping. (The bed. Not the rest of the room.)
Mind. Blown.
It makes me wonder how many other things I’ve been doing the hard way, when there’s a totally easy way to do it. How much time have I wasted, struggling, when I didn’t have to? How often did I not even try, simply because I didn’t think I had the time or the energy to finish?
Too much of my life has been wasted on doing things the hard way. It’s really because of my pride… I think my way is the best way, and I don’t like others telling me I need to change. So I trudge on, carrying a heavy load, struggling to make things work, losing sleep, lugging around stress and anxiety, when there’s an easier way.
Christ said we can cast all our cares, our burdens, our anxieties, our fears, our worries… all the hard stuff… on Him. His shoulders are broad, and He wants to carry it for us. The most difficult thing in my existence is a mere featherweight to Him. Yet I hang onto it because… I don’t know why. Because I’m stubborn, I guess.
Not only will He carry our loads for us, but He’ll show us an easier way. Oh, we’ll still have struggle. But when we follow Christ’s teaching and live by His examples of love, kindness, and compassion, we don’t end up with nearly as many regrets. We still have stuff to haul, problems to face, issues to handle. But without the added burden of bad choices and missed opportunities, those loads become easier and lighter, and they diminish sooner.
I’m still pondering this newfound knowledge. Fortunately for me, I can ponder it an extra five and a half minutes each morning, lying in my bed.
“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,” Matthew 11:29-30.
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