The straw didn’t break the camel’s back

We’ve all heard the expression about the straw that broke the camel’s back, or its shorter cousin, the last straw.

Simply put, the last straw is whatever that thing was that made us say, “No more! I can’t take/handle/tackle one more thing!” To follow the original saying, that last thing — no matter how small — causes the camel to break and be rendered useless.

The problem, of course, is that the last straw is what usually gets blamed for the broken camel. But the straw didn’t break the camel’s back. The strain from the overload did. Hang with me because there are a lot of backs breaking in our culture right now, and a lot of God-ordained opportunities will be missed if we don’t understand this.

We are a culture that thrives on pushing the limits and living as close to the edge as possible. When we see margin, we see opportunity to do more. Instead of seeing margin as breathing room, we see it as wasted space. And so, we add more things to our plates until that margin is gone.

When we live in that crowded place, what happens when another really great opportunity comes along? In our overblown view of our ability, we assume one more thing can’t hurt us, and so we take it on, too. When the crumble happens — and it inevitably will — we tend to blame the last straw instead of our overloaded condition. Sometimes, the last straw is the straw that matters the most, and to carry it, we need to be willing to let go of some of the other straws we carry.

To say yes to the most important straws, we’ve got to say no to a lot of nice straws that we aren’t supposed to be carrying. To give ourselves fully to what matters most, we’ve got to keep ourselves fully from what matters least.

Stop saying yes to one more thing and start saying yes to the few things that actually need your yes. Here’s a short list to help get you started: your soul, your family, your close relationships, your health, the people in your circle whom you can serve.

There are a lot of straws that beg us to pick them up but only a few that we were actually made to carry. Be wise in how you choose the ones you’ll say yes to.

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