Need Rest? Come to Jesus.

 

Has anyone ever told you why it’s important to read your devotionals in the morning, rather than in the evening?

 

It’s simple.  Soak up the Godly wisdom before your day kicks into high gear, as it always does, and you’re sidetracked by all the earthly things that come your way.

Also known as, read the good word, keep it near your heart, and don’t let go of it, lest you make an arse of yourself.

 

Ugh!

I could spend the next couple of paragraphs making excuses for why I’m in a crabby mood this week, but I’ll spare you those details and tell you this:

 

Tonight we ordered pizza, a rare treat.  Yes it’s from the gas station, but whatever, I paid almost $20 after my coupon, okay, it’s a treat! I even added a plastic tub of chocolate chip cookie crap to our order.  I went ALL.OUT. for this family.  haha!

The deal is I threw together a fun Friday night for the family and agreed to watch a movie in the basement that I didn’t want to see, and insisted that we eat supper there too because I am a FUN MOM.  Oh, and remember that free table I scored last summer?  I had to make use of it somehow, and covering it in pizza sauce and two tipped cans of La Croix seemed like the perfect way to break it in, apparently.

When my two big kids (11 and 16) were done eating they just left the table without a word and went to find other things to do on their tablets.  My husband disappeared too!  Before I knew it, it was just me and the two littles (1 and 6) and rather than savor the moment with my two little angels, I found myself complaining.  I mean, for good reason, but I try not to make a habit of being negative because I know it’s a slippery slope for me to climb back from.

 

I sat for a bit, cut food, wiped up spills, ate cold pizza (no, I take that back, not cold, that would’ve been good, it was lukewarm pizza), and when we were finished (all but one of us, because someone was too full for pizza but just hungry enough for two cookies), I whined like a brat.

 

I whined loud enough to get Mr. Awesome to come back downstairs to help me, or so I thought, and then he was gone again.  The two big kids came down but still played on their tablets with the new robot they just picked up from the store this evening.

 

I cried out “Doesn’t anyone see that I need REST?!  Do I ever get a break?”  “I do everything!”

 

No joke, those words spewed out of my mouth.  Kind of sounds like something straight out of preschool, doesn’t it? I’m not proud, okay?  Let’s just clear that up right now.

And then I went upstairs, I did a load of laundry because again, I do “everything” and busyness has become my badge of honor yet again.  As I was putting my clean clothes away, I noticed I hadn’t flipped the devotional page on my dresser for today.  I have three going right now because I truly need all the Jesus and positive talk I can get in my life.

The first devotional highlighted Matthew 11:28 ^“Come to me all of you who are tired from the heavy burden you have been forced to carry. I will give you rest.”

 

Ugh, yeah, had I started my day with that one I may have politely asked to sneak away for a 10-minute power nap, rather than throwing a temper tantrum.

 

The second devotional was from a marriage study, and it just boldly said “LOVE IS NOT RUDE.”

 

Sucker punch!

Dang it.  I don’t even remember the third devo because those two just got me where I needed it.

 

Okay, you’re right, Lord.  Love isn’t RUDE, but I was to the love of my life.  Please forgive me. 

 

 

Ladies, look, I know this sounds silly, but I truly get that we all have tough days, sometimes that can even turn into a tough few weeks if we let it.  Things aren’t always easy.  But here we are, doing it anyway. Not because we have to, and not because we do “everything around here” (and let’s pause to praise Jesus that I don’t REALLY do everything around here), but because WE GET TO.

We.  Get.  To.

 

We get to do the things because we are alive, we are here, and we are able.  This life is worth living, and living well, amen?

I bet if you give your burdens to the Lord, if you find a few minutes for yourself, you can concur the day with a smile on your face, because you can abundantly see your blessings before you.  Maybe they’re in the form of pizza sauce smeared on the table, because:

There was enough money to purchase carry out pizza

Resources to pick up the pizza

A table to eat at

Little hands and sweet faces to enjoy the pizza

Towels to clean up the messes

Grace for when we just.can’t.do.it.all

Etc. Etc. Etc.

 

Pro Tip:  When I was in the trenches of raising a newborn and felt like I didn’t have a minute to myself and my body wasn’t my own, I’d snag an extra minute when I washed my hands in the bathroom.  I’d look into the mirror as the water washed over my hands, and ask Jesus to show me what he saw.  I’d cry because even though what I saw was frankly a mess, I knew my story was being written by Jesus, and all of His stories have beauty.  A Beautiful Mess.  Then I’d dry my hands, breathe deep, wipe my eyes, open the door, and get back to making this life “slightly better” than it was before I took an extended pause.  Because I get to.

 

You Get To, Too.