"Oof."

"What?" He looked over at her as she looked in disdain at the email.

"Someone asked me to lead another bible study next weekend. I want to do it, but... I don't know when I have time for it." Her eyes skimmed the email on the blinking screen, mentally making a note of the time and date. "Do you have a pen?" He nodded and tossed the ballpoint he was twirling in his fingers to her. She caught it effortlessly, and wrote the time and date on the back of her left hand. "Well, I already kind of have the study planned for our trip to the soup kitchen, right? And I've done studies like this before during the school year... so I can just probably do it before work sometime this weekend. And..." She paused. "What?"

"... Nothing."

"It's not nothing. What?"

"It's just.. " He sighed, then walked over and took the pen back from her. "You're doing so much already. With work and your small group and all these different.. things that people keep asking you to do. Don't you get tired?"

"Jeez, I do get tired. But I hope that the people around me would encourage me when I do have stuff and not... yell.."

"I'm not yelling at you. Just..." He sighed and gave the pen back. "Just.. don't overexert yourself, okay?"

She twiddled the pen between her thumb and index finger. "Sometimes... sometimes I feel like it's all a game. I'm playing this game with God, with the people around me, with myself where I try so hard to serve and do this or that and I don't know what to --... I don't know. I'm so scared of losing that game, you know?"

".. do you think He'd let you?"




// inspired by an x.