His yoke is easy.

By Hailey Pruitt

Matthew 11:28-30

Everyone I know is tired.

We wear it like a badge of honor. We have come to believe this is just the way it is and there’s no getting out, so we turned it into a competition. We say things like:

“Oh, there’s no tired like new-mom tired.”

“There’s no tired like teacher-in-August tired.”

“There’s no tired like VBS tired.” 

Perpetual exhaustion is common, but it’s not normal. And it’s not what God wants for us. 

Jesus says his yoke is easy. A yoke is a wooden harness for oxen that fits over their necks and keeps a team together, pointed in the same direction so they stay on the same path. If we accept Jesus’ yoke, we put it on and walk beside him, but he steers. He holds us up. He makes the way smooth. If we’re looking in the same direction he’s looking, we’ll go together. And when we share our burdens with Jesus, they’re easy to carry. 

Most of us are managing our lives like we have to get all the groceries in the house in one trip. We know we cannot earn our salvation, yet we work ourselves to death. We think being exhausted for Jesus proves we’re his. But I imagine him reaching out, tenderly holding our faces, and saying, “Beloved, I never asked you to do that.”

Work has always been part of humanity’s calling, even before the fall. Work is not the problem. Striving is. Work is good and holy. Striving is approaching our work, our to-do lists, our lives as though it’s all up to us. It’s graspy, just like Eve when she reached out to grasp that fruit. Instead of trusting God, she sought to attain her own security. And the desire to be like God overcame the desire to be with God. 

This is hard because it’s counter-cultural. If we embrace a rhythm of rest, it’ll be uncomfortable. We’ll get funny looks when our schedules aren’t full. We’ll miss out on things that matter to us when we choose to rest instead. We’ll feel awkward and peculiar. But we’ll also gain peace and joy and renewed connection to God and to each other. Don’t you want to put down all that stuff you’re carrying and give it to the one for whom it’s not too heavy? Give it a try. I promise it’ll be worth it.