Too Hard

Rule of Benedict, Chapter 68, Assignment of Impossible Tasks

“Monastics may be assigned a burdensome task or something they cannot do. If so, they should with complete gentleness and obedience, accept the order given them. Should they see, however, that the weight of the burden is altogether too much for their strength, then they should choose the appropriate moment and explain patiently to the prioress or abbot the reasons why they cannot perform the task. This they ought to do without pride, obstinacy, or refusal. If after the explanation the abbot or prioress is still determined to hold to their original order, then the junior must recognize that this is best. Trusting in God’s help, they must in love obey.”

I am closely related to eight wonderful young people, my children and their spouses, and I also know a lot of other young folks who are raising families. They are trying to make ends meet in a rough economy, pressed for time and worried about the future. My heart goes out to them.

I remember the early days of family life when my husband and I felt so overwhelmed and exhausted that we thought we couldn’t go one step further. We lived with chronic sleepless nights, too little money and too little strength for the needs of four little ones. Often, just when we felt we had reached the end of our rope, an illness would sweep through the family or an unexpected expense would arise. We were sure that at some point we would run completely out of resources.

Sometimes we wanted to run away, but we knew that wouldn’t help. We knew the only alternative for us was to turn to the foundations of our faith and cry out to God for help. We always hoped that he would answer with an abundance of resources to give us relief, but usually he sent only enough to get us through the current moment. He gave us enough strength for one more day and enough money for one more bill. We wanted security, but he wanted us to learn how to depend upon him.

The truth is that only the Lord knows how much we can take. We may bargain or plead with him, explaining that we really can’t go on any further. We may even ask him how it looks to the rest of the world to see his children experience so much stress and worry. Is this how we are supposed live as children of the King? He is unmoved by all of that. He is not worried about his reputation as a provider, he concerned about shaping the character of his people.

Yesterday I talked with one of the precious young women in my life. She has faced great stresses in the past year including becoming a first-time mother, losing cherished loved ones to death, tight finances and unrelenting demands of the ministry she and her husband are in. They have often come to end of their resources and we have often prayed together for God’s provision. He has never failed, but usually he has not given them more than just what they needed for the moment.

She told me that these circumstances have grown her up. Things that would have upset her in the past now roll right off her shoulders. She doesn’t complain and she doesn’t fret as she might have in the past. She has more peace about the future, knowing how God has shown himself to be faithful in the past.

Our friend Benedict of Nursia understood how hard a life of obedience could be. In his Rule for a Christian community he assumed that every member would be asked to do the impossible sometimes. He allowed members to appeal to the authorities who assigned such difficult tasks. He also knew that none of us really knows ourselves and what we are capable of doing so he encourages us to trust the wisdom of the community when our appeal is denied. His rule states that after we have made our case, if the task still remains, we should give up our complaints and turn our hearts to loving what is before us.

This rule is laced with the language of humility and Christ-like character:

Patience, gentleness, obedience, love.

That is what God is working to create in us and He isn’t bothered by our fussing and fuming in the process.

It does not come naturally to face impossible tasks with these qualities of patience, gentleness, obedience and love, but we are not limited to what comes naturally. We have the power of God to transform us into people who are able to do the impossible. Nothing is too hard for him...nothing is too hard for us.