I can't give you any more than I can…
I give up…
I have nothing more to say…
I can't help you…
Getting to a point in a friendship, a relationship, a game of football or a conversation where you feel nothing is a difficult pit to get out of.
As a sportsman, there have been many times when either the body or the mind has given up during a game. As I have moved into the "Masters" stage of my sporting career, the body seems to give up far more often than the mind.
As a school teacher, I would love to present this "To Sir with Love" scenario whereby every year for the last 20 years, I have taken every one of my classes, every one of my students, all bands of misfits of course, and turned their lives around to have them weep at the end of the year as I hand them onto the world.
Sadly, it is my opinion, some students have given up long before I ever gave up on them, but I can't help wonder how many times I gave a student the idea that I couldn't help them anymore. That there was nothing more I could give to help them.
As a father, those times when I have stormed out of a room, or come home from work disengaged from my family and the world, or not listened to the story, or the lame schoolyard joke, or rolled the arm over because they are into cricket…comes back to haunt you when your son won't open up to you when you know he is hurting and just needs some time with Dad.
As a husband, with a wife who loves you and devotes more of her time to you than anyone, who just needs a hug rather than a lecture, often giving up is as easy as staying silent when words need to be spoken. Telling your wife that everything is ok when it is not, is a sure sign that you have nothing to give her anymore and to push her aside shows her that she can't help you any longer nor has any right to.
Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When He had said this, He breathed His last (Luke 23 verse 46).
Did Jesus give up at this point? Did He really know that His time was up? Did He realise there was nothing more He could give to this world?
It could be argued that Jesus was farewelling earth and welcoming heaven at this point.
I could not think of a better prayer to pray at those times in your life when you feel you have nothing more to give your team, your students, your kids, your wife.
"Father. My Lord and my God. Into your ever loving, mighty, gracious, forgiving hands; I commit, I dedicate, I pledge my spirit, my whole being."
I got nothing, but with that prayer, I have everything I need.
Russell Modlin teaches English and Physical Education at a Christian School on the Sunshine Coast. He is married to Belinda and they have three children.
Russell Modlin's archive of previous article can be found at www.pressserviceinternational.org/russell-modlin.html