Bone-Tired, Bushed, Spent, Tuckered, or Weary?

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It was the last day of our Ladies Bible class until fall, so we all brought salads, desserts, and such to share for lunch. I dragged myself into the kitchen and threw together one that my mama and Ray’s mama used to make. It’s called Five-Cup Salad because it has one cup each of five ingredients. Actually, I doubled the recipe, so mine was An Approximately Ten-Cup Salad.

Here are the ingredients in case you need to throw a fruit salad together soon: 1 cup mandarin oranges, one cup pineapple (mine was fresh and chopped small), one cup coconut, one cup marshmallows, and one cup sour cream. I had leftover colored marshmallows in the freezer, so I used those like Ray’s mama used to do.

We really do eat healthy almost all the time, but I splurged yesterday with a few colored marshmallows. Here’s one more detail: I was a little shy of having enough pineapple, so I threw in some chopped dates to balance things out. It was yummy, if I do say so myself, and very pretty, too, with the subtle pastels of colored marshmallows beneath the sour cream.

I got to class with time to run my salad to the refrigerator in the church kitchen in the basement. Then, I sat down in my chair in class feeling tired — and overwhelmed with feelings of responsibility. Ever feel that way? I know you have. You might feel that way right now.

As happens to you and to me every single day, God was kind to me. He met my need when Sue shared with us another of her Scripture paradox lessons:

We Gain Strength When We Are Weak

That lesson was exactly what I needed. Is today your day to be bone-tired, bushed, done in, played out, spent, tuckered, or weary? I’d like to encourage you with the Scriptures that encouraged me yesterday and intersperse them with some photos I took.

We had a beautiful day here that day. When I returned home from errands in the late afternoon, I noticed a different wildflower blooming. When I got to our house, I kept on going and took a short drive in the countryside. When I got home, I went from flower to flower and from scene to scene in our yard.

Around supper time, we had a nice shower. After the shower, Ray told me that we had a rainbow outside. Here are the scenes I saw yesterday in the order that God gave them to me. Sprinkled in among them are passages Sue shared with us yesterday morning.

He gives strength to the weary,
And to him who lacks might He increases power. 

 Though youths grow weary and tired,
And vigorous young men stumble badly, 

 Yet those who wait for the Lord
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles, 

They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.
Isaiah 40:29-31

Though the fig tree should not blossom
And there be no fruit on the vines,

Though the yield of the olive should fail
And the fields produce no food, 

The Lord God is my strength,
And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet,
And makes me walk on my high places.
Habakkuk 3:17-19

Therefore I am well content with weaknesses,
with insults, with distresses, with persecutions,
with difficulties, for Christ’s sake;

for when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:10

I can do all things
through Him who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:13

My flesh and my heart may fail,
But God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
Psalm 73:26

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