Years ago, I needed a really fast computer to play my favorite video game, so I asked my friend to put one together for me. He agreed, and when he finished it, he handed it to me and I felt like he was handing me the holy grail. I took it home and started using it and I was thrilled; it was super-fast and the battery lasted forever. I was in computer paradise and all ran well, at least for a few months. Then one day, out of the blue, it started to slow down. The battery ran out after only a few hours and you could hear the fan all the time. Disappointed, I brought the computer back to my friend, and because he’s a nerd, he started laughing. He called his friend over to look at it with him and they were both astonished at how many programs I had running — like hundreds of them. He asked me if I had ever turned off or closed out of any of the things I had opened, and I replied, “no, you never told me to.” So what was happening was that all the programs were still running beneath the surface and the processor was trying to manage them, so it was slowing down the machine and zapping the battery.

Are you wondering what this has to do with you? The analogy is that this is what happens in your life when you stress. In essence, you have a bunch of programs running unconsciously in your mind and they zap your energy. Do you ever think about why you feel like you always need a nap or why you don’t have vision for your future? It’s likely because you have merimnao, which is the Biblical word for stress, that literally means to be pulled in a million directions. Having too many things beneath the surface steals your mental and physical energy and keeps you from carrying out God’s mission for your life.

Today, I encourage you to rest in the easy yoke of Jesus and allow Him to carry the load that zaps your energy and wears down your battery.