Making a List and Checking it Twice

Proverbs 31 Ministries Daily Devotion

Rest in the Midst of Life

I find life can be sapping sometimes. Just the normal everyday run of the mill callings...husband, kids, laundry, grocery shopping, carpooling, cooking, cleaning, ...the list goes on. Then there are other commitments that call and add to the chaos,...work, illnesses, extended family obligations, extra curricular activities, and that list goes on as well. And then there are the holidays with more shopping, more social engagements, and more and more. For two years now I have found my morning commitment to my Lord is critical for recharging my spiritual battery, if you will. Five years later, running has proven to be critical to recharge the emotional battery. What about the physical body? Food and rest. Our society has groomed our generation to always be on the move. I feel guilty for sitting, much less, taking a power nap. Sitting is not productivity. I am list driven.
My devotion this morning reminded me that is ok, to sit and rest.

I Kings 19:4-5
"...he himself...came and sat under a broom tree...he lay and slept..."
Verse seven says that the angel told him to arise and eat for the journey has been too great for him.
Even Elijah who knew no death and was taken up by the Lord needed basic life necessities food and rest. As we do, also.

I'm too tired to trust and too tired to pray,
Said I, as my overtaxed strength gave way.
The one conscious thought that my mind possessed,
Is, oh, could I just drop it all and rest.

Will God forgive me, do you suppose,
If I go right to sleep as a baby goes,
Without questioning if I may,
Without even trying to trust and pray?

Will God forgive you? Think back, dear heart,
When language to you was an unknown art,
Did your mother deny you needed rest,
Or refuse to pillow your head on her breast?

Did she let you want when you could not ask?
Did she give her child an unequal task?
Or did she cradle you in her arms,
And then guard your slumber against alarms?

Oh, how quickly a mother's love can see,
The unconscious yearnings of infancy.
When you've grown too tired to trust and pray,
When overworked nature has quite given way:

Then just drop it all, and give up to rest,
As you used to do on mother's breast,
He knows all about it-the dear Lord knows,
So just go to sleep as a baby goes;

Without even asking if you may,
God knows when His child is too tired to pray.
He judges no solely by uttered prayer,
He knows when the yearnings of love are there.

He knows you do pray, He knows you do trust,
And He knows, too, the limits of poor, weak dust.
Oh, the wonderful sympathy of Christ,
For His chosen ones in that midnight tryst,

When He told them, "Sleep and take your rest,"
While on Him the guilt of the whole world pressed-
You have trusted your life to Him to keep,
Then don't be afraid to go right to sleep.
-----Ella Conrad Cowherd

The Rules

This morning proved to be frustrating in more ways that I could really go into detail in fear of losing your attention, as well as mine. In summation, the littlest dog and newest addition to the family decided he couldn't wait for me to get out of the shower to do his business. Frustration number one. Followed by thick soupy fog for complicated weather conditions. Frustration number two. Topped off with distracting conversation with my 5 year old about her dog and our plan of 'attack' to break a poor habit of messing in the house that led to a near wreck in the fog. Frustration number three. Where this brings us is my 7 year old, nearly 8, reaching up from behind my car seat, rubbing my shoulders and says its 'its ok mom, its not your fault'. Unfortunately, I had to correct her and inform her that it was my fault. Driving rules exist for our safety and I failed to heed to one in particular that came close to really frustrating and complicating the morning beyond recognition.
Isn't that the purpose of God's rules and our submission to Him? To protect us and keep us safe from oncoming harm that we can't always see?
Psalm 91:1-16