When the Heat Comes

It was Monday morning, and my workday was already doing everything Mondays are infamous for. There had not yet been any yelling, explosions or 'bullets' to dodge, common occurances in our workplace. Regardless, things had already begun to melt down and it was barely 8 am. 

I walked away from my kitchen to take a breather. I obviously needed a little more quiet time than I had given myself this morning. I brought back to mind the devotional I read before bicycling to work. It spoke of a passage from the book of Jeremiah:

 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD,
   whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water
   that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
   its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
   and never fails to bear fruit.” (17:7-8, NIV)

When heat comes.  Another translation puts it this way: 

“Such trees are not bothered by the heat.” (NLT)

And here I was, completely bothered. So much so, that that I found a co-worker in his office, and proceeded to sob uncontrollably on his shoulder. Yep, Monday morning and I’m already falling apart. Realizing that I came to work in my own strength, I began to repent and pray aloud for God’s help with my work week. “I can’t do it without You,” I sobbed. I expected my co-worker, usually quite compassionate, to console me. But this morning, holding my weeping mess of a self, he softly spoke these words:

“Suck it up, sweetie.”

I lifted my tear-stained face from his shoulder, in shock at first, but then looking into his eyes, I sensed Holy Spirit. He did too, and we both started to laugh, deep belly laughs that now had me crying tears of joy. We had tapped into God, and the fruit of the Spirit was JOY. 

And this is exactly what we are to do...suck it up! The secret to Jeremiah’s tree is that it had spread out its roots by the river, tapped into it’s life-giving moisture... and drank. As Christians, we are to do the same thing. Our taproot is our soul in contact with Jesus, sharing His life and bearing His fruit. (Meditation, Jim Downing, NavPress)

A Christian can be quite pathetic when they try to live life without drawing daily nourishment from God. Trust me, I know. There is no growth, no fruit. It is ‘bothered by the heat’ and ‘worries in years of drought.’ But a real Christian is tapped into the Source. As Isaiah puts it:

“And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah
Shall again take root downward,
And bear fruit upward.” (37:31)

Let’s face it: life is hard. Heat, drought, storms, pain, trials, temptations...it will all come our way, guaranteed. But if we are tapped into the Source of all strength, we will be able to endure. We will even be able to count it all joy, facing life’s daily challenges with a smile on our face for the world to see. But we must plant ourselves by the River, we must be willing to daily receive the nourishment we need. 

Endurance athlete David Goggins once said, “Every morning I take a giant suck-it-up pill, and wash it down with a refreshing can of hard.” 

Thankfully, we needn’t be so stoic or self-reliant! God has promised to care for us. 

“I, the LORD, will watch over it, watering it carefully.” Isaiah 27:3

Planting ourselves can be as easy as resting in God’s presence, spending time in His Word, or simply being still and knowing He is God. 

We have a God that will supply all the strength we need to endure. And endurance is important in a world that can be treacherous, especially on Monday mornings. The apostle Paul likens the Christian life to a race that we must run with endurance so we can win the prize. (1 Cor 9:24)  When we have the strength of an almighty, omnipotent God, we will be more than conquerers. We will win the prize. 

Goggins says this about running: “Running is running. It hurts, but that’s all it does. The most difficult part of the training is training your mind. You build calluses on your feet to endure the road. You build calluses on your mind to endure the pain. There’s only one way to do that. You have to get out there and run.”

So I ran back to my kitchen. I ran back into the heat with joy in my heart. And with a smile on my face, I finished out my day.