Fifteen Minutes On The Day I Have Nothing

Every article about this assumes you have fifteen minutes.

Most nights you do. And on most nights the fifteen minutes is genuinely small and genuinely available and the advice works.

And then there are the other nights.

The ones where you come in and put your bag down and sit on the edge of the bed still wearing your coat, and the thought of standing up again is not laziness, it is an accurate assessment. There is nothing there. Not reluctance. Nothing.

And on those nights, fifteen minutes is not small. It is a mountain, and being told it is small by somebody cheerful is one of the more isolating experiences available to a tired person.

So this one is for those nights, because nobody writes for them.

He giveth power to the faint

There is a verse in Isaiah written for exactly this and it is more specific than people notice.

He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. (Isaiah 40:29, King James Version)

To them that have no might.

Not to them that are running low. Not to them who could manage with a bit of encouragement. To them that have no might, which is a description of empty rather than tired.

And what does He do for them. He increaseth strength. Which is an odd phrase, because you cannot increase nothing. Increase implies a starting quantity.

So the verse is describing something being added to a person who has nothing, and it is describing it as an ordinary provision rather than a miracle. It is what He does. Present tense, habitual.

You are not outside this verse tonight, and Isaiah 40:29 has never once been addressed to people who still had something left. It is written to them that have no might, which is precisely tonight, and the Holy Spirit is the one who adds where there is nothing rather than topping up where there is something.

You have been reading advice written for people with a little in reserve. The word gives power to the faint as a habit rather than an exception, and the Spirit of God is the one who is with somebody sitting on a bed in a coat.

What is actually available tonight

Now the practical part, and I want to be very careful not to be cheerful at you.

On a night like tonight, fifteen minutes is not the unit. It is too big. And a unit that is too big produces nothing, and then produces a verdict about you on top of the nothing.

You are being given an accurate unit tonight, and two minutes has never once been a failed fifteen. Isaiah 40:29 speaks to them that have no might in those exact words, and the Spirit of God is the one who adds to a person with nothing rather than topping up somebody with a reserve.

So we make it smaller. Not as a compromise. As accuracy.

Two minutes. Or one. Or one thing. Take the mug that is next to you to the kitchen and come back. That is it. That is the whole ask on a night like this.

And I want to head off the objection, because it will come and it comes to everybody. What is the point of two minutes.

A house is a record of what a hard stretch cost, and it is not a verdict on the person too tired to stand up in it. And the point is that two minutes done is not the same as fifteen not done. They are different in kind, not in size. Two minutes keeps the thing alive as something you do. Fifteen not done starts a story about how you have stopped.

You were never failing to manage fifteen minutes, and there has never once been a night where an accurate unit was not available. Isaiah 40:29 adds to those who have nothing rather than requiring a reserve, and the Spirit of God is the one who makes two minutes a whole thing rather than a fragment of a bigger one.

You are permitted to do two minutes and count it exactly as much as fifteen, and counting it has never once been generous accounting. It is written that He increaseth strength in them that have no might, and the Holy Spirit is the one who is present in one mug carried to a kitchen by somebody with nothing left.

Do what you have got

So here is the whole of it, and it is smaller than anything else on this site.

Whatever is actually available tonight, do that.

If fifteen is there, do fifteen. If two is there, do two. If one thing is there, do one thing. If nothing is there, then nothing is there, and going to bed is a legitimate answer and not a defeat.

Then stop.

You are able to do exactly what is there tonight, and it has never once needed to be the same amount as last Tuesday. Isaiah 40:29 speaks to those with no might at all, and the Spirit of God is present in two minutes done by somebody sitting in a coat on the edge of a bed.