My Strength and Song

     Being the mom of two little boys under the age of three, whose busyness and knack for mess-making knows no bounds, means that fatigue and I are on a first name basis.
      "Oh! Hi, Fatigue, thanks for coming over AGAIN today. You are here to help me with the dishes and the vacuuming and the laundry, meals, diapers, toys? How thoughtful of you, and I see Shoulder Tension and Backache from Breastfeeding came with you. Wonderful! Let's call Coffee so we can get this party started."
     I'm sure many of you have had similar conversations and felt the oppressive weight of all that is supposed to get done in a day. Your struggle may look a lot like mine or maybe it's totally different: you don't have kids, it's school not messes that's driving you crazy, the deadlines and demands at work just keep piling on top of you. Whatever your picture, whatever the sarcastic conversation you're having in your head with fatigue, stress, anxiety, depression, know there's encouragement to be found. For me, this week, it was hidden in a little verse in the book of Exodus: "The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation..." (15:2).  Those few words spoke volumes into my heart; they showed me how to transform the attitude of my day. By singing his praises as I wash that heap of dishes, fold that pile of laundry, and vacuum the animal cracker crumbs off the carpet, I can get over myself. Whether it is singing a hymn I've had memorized since childhood, humming along to the next song on my Spotify playlist, or simply offering up a silent prayer of thanksgiving, it can stop being all about me.
   Worship has a way of doing that, of changing our perspective. It gets our focus off all that we have to get done and on to all that he has done for us. It reminds us that the day is not so much about the task list as it is about walking in Christ through those tasks. Praising him reminds us that this life of ours, the one he redeemed on the cross, is now to be lived in his strength not our own. His strength--the strength that took my sin and shame (yours too) and nailed it to a cross, the strength that intercedes for me (and you) before the Father, the strength that never leaves and never forsakes us--is more than enough. It is enough for any trial, temptation, heartache; it is enough for any and every day.  By resting in that strength and tuning my heart to sing his praise I have the fuel I need to joyously run my race, fully striving in the work and calling he has given me to do. When I do life with Christ, I'm no longer on my own, and that is no small daily salvation.