While going through some old clothes, I tried on a shirt that had seen many good days of enjoyable wear. Unfortunately, when I tried it on this time, I realized that the faithful old garment did not cover as well as it did at one time. (Obviously it had shrunk.) I concluded, "Clothes do better and look better when we don't ask them to do too much." I have since discovered other situations where we ask some things to do too much.

Sometimes, we ask our jobs do too much. We try to make our jobs our identity. We try to make our jobs our reason for being. We try to make our jobs the fulfillment of all our dreams. Our jobs were never intended to be everything.

Sometimes, we ask our possessions to do too much. We think that if we can purchase the newest outfit, the latest gadget, the shiniest model, the biggest house, or the fastest car then our life will be complete. Our possessions were never designed to give our life meaning.

Sometimes, we ask our relationships to do too much. A wife asks her husband to give her life meaning. A husband asks his wife to build him up and make him feel important. A mother asks her children to fill her life with purpose and significance. A relationship with another person was never intended to make life abundant.

Sometimes, we ask our words to do too much. We ask our words to prove our love. We ask our words to convince people of our faith. We ask our words to replace our physical presence. Our words were never created to do all those things.

The Gospel of Mark records this story about a woman who did not try to do too much, she did what she could:

Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him. "But not during the Feast," they said, "or the people may riot."While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, "Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor." And they rebuked her harshly."Leave her alone," said Jesus. "Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her." (Mark 14:1-8, NIV)

She just did what she could.
This woman was commended for simply doing "what she could." She did not try to do too much. She just did what she could.

Today ... do what you can.