STEWARDSHIP FOCUS
 
WHEN YOU DON’T FEEL UP TO IT       Craig A. Cooper
 
Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!
Psalm 126:5
 
Perhaps you’ve been laboring under the weight of a broken heart. You’re in a season of sadness and the work never ceases until your eyelids close in weary sleep; then you arise the next morning just to start the process all over again. Dear reader, if that’s you, don’t be surprised as tears flow easily from your exhausted eyes.

Earlier on in our marriage, as our children were little, my wife worked so hard as a schoolteacher, nurse, counselor, mediator, chauffeur, entertainer, homemaker, housekeeper, cook, photographer, interior designer, and therapist (to me) all on a daily, repetitive basis! She didn’t have the benefit of getting paid a market rate for all that labor, and the work never ended.
 
These days, our kids are older, and the challenges are different—we’re
exhausted by 8:30 p.m. and that’s usually when teenagers want to talk. The truth is the same in every season: God has arranged life to typically follow a pattern of sowing and reaping (2 Cor. 9:6; Gal. 6:7-9), and often there is work to be done when we don’t feel up for it.

What do we do in those moments? We ask God for grace to serve in the strength that He provides, and then we sow, even while the tears fall (1 Peter 4:11).

Some weeks, we’ll see a lot of fruit from our labors. Other weeks, we won’t. I suppose it’s like that with any type of work or profession. That’s why some of the most encouraging truths in Scripture are the verse from Psalm 126 above and also “In all toil there is profit” (Prov. 14:23).
 
Your tearful toil will be rewarded. You may not see it all today, but shouts of joy will come. So don’t lose heart. Don’t give up. Don’t believe the lie that it’s all for nothing. God sees, God knows, and God will reward those who sow in tears while trusting Him.

Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good. (Eccl. 11:1, 6)