Earlier this week, I was substituting in my friend, Carol’s classroom at a local high school. It was the end of the day and we were talking when a girl came in looking for a friend who was supposed to work with her on a speech she had to give. The more she told us about the project, the more upset she became to the point it felt absolutely overwhelming to her and she was ready to cry. I knew exactly how she felt.
For several weeks now, I have been working on moving: packing, cleaning, giving away, unpacking, recycling, garbage, and some more cleaning. It has been an overwhelming task at times and I am well past the burn out point. I work all day at my job then go to one of the two apartments to work on things there. After a whole week of moving things over to my new apartment across town, I almost have everything out of the old one and am working on an extensive cleaning. When I get tired of that, I go to my new apartment and unpack which also involves a lot of cleaning as the last tenants decided against taking on that task. Quite frankly, I’m tired. It feels like a triathlon and I am on the last leg without much strength in my feet. The people who came to help surprised me. A friend from the theatre, a friend from church, two women I’ve known for years, and a guy I’ve met only once all came. A very new friend came to help us unload one afternoon and cousins of a neighbor helped me carry things upstairs. I am immensely grateful to these kind folk.
By Monday, my roommate and I have to have the old place all cleaned. We’ve been working on it when we can. The task seems so huge. I’ve already done so much moving, I am right where that girl was, overwhelmed and upset. Facing the rest of the task feels so huge. So, I’ve started singing this song to myself that you’ve probably heard:
“His strength is perfect when our strength is gone. He’ll carry us when we can’t carry on! Raised in his power, the weak become strong. His strength is perfect, his strength is perfect.”
Carole and I, seeing how upset she was, helped her by talking out the project with her and breaking it up piece by piece and telling her that she already knew a lot about the topic, which she did. By the time she headed out the door, she was feeling so much better and by helping someone else, so did I.