There’s a verse in the Bible that describes what I see as the cry of an overwhelmed man. This man looks around him and all he sees is a metaphorical ‘flood of stuff’.

Stuff that doesn’t seem to go away. Stuff that that increases by the day when he would rather it decreases. Stuff that makes him question his capacity.

So eventually, at least in my thinking, he lets out a rhetorical cry of desperation and followed profound comfort and truth:  ” I look to the hills, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, who created the heavens and the earth…” I think the realization that surely one who creates the heavens and the earth cannot be overwhelmed by “stuff” is a huge one. It is a calming one. He continues to reassure himself that based on the Lord’s capability, surely his ‘stuff’ is only too little for the Lord.

I am actually overwhelmed by stuff. I look around me and there’s marking… there are classes, there are meetings, and more meetings, there are lectures… and before then, there are my children, my husband, my mum who is unwell, my father who is finalizing his degree and needs material ” from the internet  urgently” , my mother in law who needs to ” discuss some things face to face which are very important “…  and on and on.

And then there is my thesis.

And then there is a class I very foolishly accepted to teach to earn an extra coin I desperately need for my home.

Stuff!

And there are committee meetings. And days which honestly, try as I may, I can’t quite focus. And house shopping.

Just stuff!

Where does my help come from? Amidst the stuff, at 3 am as I write this, my help comes from the Lord. Who calms me down and says this is the way. Walk in it.