Thursday, September 15, 2011

Oh Deer, God! Teach me how to rest!

CC image courtesy of Izuen Gordelekua on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/izuengordelekua/2840724863/


~ This week has been a busy one.  Swamped with extra work at the group home, tending to a leaky roof on the homefront, celebrating Jeremy's birthday with family, helping my husband send out book proposals, all while trying to fit in my other errands has proven difficult to balance.  God tried to grab my attention to slow down earlier in the week.  Have you ever noticed how He does this?  For me it happened when my husband and I were going shopping.  Sitting in the passenger seat, daydreaming about my future while checking off a list of shopping items in my head, I gazed out the window.  I don't know why I looked up in that particular moment.  Houses, houses, then a bridge overlooking a construction zone, then...what was that in the distance?  I couldn't believe my eyes.  Deer resting in a small clearing just alongside a wooded lot. How contrasting their graceful brown bodies looked against the cold hard steel of the bulldozers and busy dinner time traffic rushing by us!  How and why did I look up in time to see that sight?  Reflecting only a moment before getting swept back into the rush hour traffic of my own mind, I knew exactly what God was trying to say.  Be still and know that I am God.  It was that simple.  Slow down, little one.  Rest in me and renew your strength.  Ephesians 4:23 tells us to "be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude]." (Amplified) What a great reminder for all of us!

In accordance with this message, my post will not be a long one.  I'm learning how to rest.  I'm also learning what's most important in life.  The more I listen to those wiser with more wrinkles than me say, "I wish I had spent more time with those I loved than on mundane tasks",  the more I am compelled to find this rest which the Bible speaks.  Today,  I am learning how not to be everything to everyone.  If my house is a little untidy, so be it.  If my hair is a bit unkept, who cares?  I'm tired, and I'm renewing my strength like deer resting in a meadow.  Won't you join me? ~