I staggered into the shower as the dawn was breaking. It was part of my morning routine. After turning on the hot water, I reached for the bar of soap. Fatigue overwhelmed me this day, a problem made worse by the realization I was only two days into a five-day workweek. It was no mystery as to how I reached this point. Juggling work, family and directing the affairs of my dying mother had sapped my strength.

The rigid bar of soap I reached for, and depended on daily, had withered to a small pile of goo. It was all but gone. I used it up without realizing it. In that moment a thought occurred to me, my human strength was like a bar of soap.

Like soap, my strength is not limitless nor is its existence eternal. Yet, I rely on it like it is. I use my own strength heavily and continuously, unaware that it’s wasting away. Finally, I reach a point where it has become nothing more than a small pile of goo, right when I need it most.

As one whose hope rests in God, I need to remind myself continuously that He can be my source of strength. I only need to stay connected to him to receive it. God is like the hand that guides a bar of soap. He delivers the remedy to the affliction and continually replenishes its supply.

He [God] gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:29-31 TNIV