“I can do hard things.”

“I can’t do everything.”

These two truths have been bouncing around my brain today. I’m trying to find some rhythm in this tension.

Last night three of my four kids just wouldn’t listen. Simple instructions, mind you. They weren’t having it. The thought crossed my mind: “why can’t this be easy?”

I’m starting to wonder if things have to be hard. Otherwise we’d get comfortable, and we wouldn’t need God. If I was self-reliant and independent, I wouldn’t need a Savior, a Father, a Helper.

We have a choice though, in the face of hard things. We can give up, or we can lean into God. All too often, in the midst of overwhelm, we just throw up our hands and quit. We have need of endurance, of finding strength in the arms of a loving God.

I think back to Genesis, to the fall, when Eve and Adam were deceived. With the curse came toil and pain.

But then I remember that Jesus came and defeated sin and death; He set us free.

Tension.

We still have pain and toil, but Jesus makes it bearable. He provides a way out so we can persevere (1 Corinthians 10:13). He encourages us to bring our burdens to Him, to be yoked to Him. To trust that He’s with us always. He promises trouble on this earth, but He also promises His presence in the midst of the mess.

I’m reminded of Abraham, Joseph, and Moses. How God called them out of their comfort zones, working everything to their good. Sometimes they didn’t know where they were going, or how they’d get there. And they didn’t always trust Him. Sometimes they tried to take matters into their own hands, or they couldn’t accept that He wanted to use them. But they had to face uncomfortable circumstances, stretching situations. And God was with them.

And He is with us.

This month I’m working on establishing boundaries and habits and rhythms. I’m in awe of how God could have created the heavens and the earth in one day, but He didn’t.

He made light and darkness, day and night. And it was enough.

On day two He separated the water and sky. And it was enough.

On the third day He created land. And He saw that it was good. He went a little further and made plants and trees. He saw that it was good. And it was enough.

Next He made the sun, moon and stars. He saw that is good; it was enough.

On day five God filled the waters and skies with living creatures. He saw that is was good, and He blessed them. And it was enough.

On the sixth day He spoke land animals into existence. And it was good. Then He created mankind in His image, breathing life and blessing. He saw all that He had made and it was very good. And it was enough.

“By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day He rested from all His work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating He had done.” (Genesis 2:2-3)

It was enough.

I’m learning (sometimes the hard way) that I can’t do everything. I’m bound by time and humanness. But I am enough. My worth and value aren’t dependent on my efficiency or accomplishments. I am enough because of Jesus.

I am also learning that I can do hard things. And it’s enough. Not because I’m great, but because God is with me and alive in me.

And He is always enough.