Ezra went down for his nap like clockwork and I’ll be honest, I was amazed. The long anticipated move is underway. After only two weeks on the market, the offer came and with it, a ten day closing. No one is ever truly prepared for a move. Packing up your entire household, even after only six years of marriage, invariably takes more time and effort than anticipated but doing it in under two weeks is an added challenge. To say that Ezra and Amelia’s little world has been rocked would be an understatement.
On the day of the inspection, Valentina brought the kids over after lunch. Amelia had been awake since 5:30 and she was obviously struggling. Her mom tried to convince her to rest but for her, a nap is punishment. After getting Ezra settled in, I offered to try my hand at convincing her to have a nap. I would have relished snuggling in and closing my own eyes for a bit but Amelia was not interested. I explained, as her mom already had that her tears and fidgeting was simply her body’s way of letting her know she needed rest. In the end, I whispered a prayer with her, then in an attempt to simplify the choices for her exhausted brain, asked if she would like to be rocked or to snuggle with mom. It took her awhile to settle, but in the end, mom soothed her and she slept soundly for almost two hours.
My girls joke together about the irony of having kids who fight sleep while wishing someone would tell them to go take a nap. I have done just that but they don’t usually listen either. We are a culture of perpetually busy people trying to find ways to be more efficient so we can do more. Where does the madness end? Either we get sick and are forced to rest or we plan a vacation and come home more exhausted than when we left. Our bodies were not designed to function this way, all on all the time. God created within us a delicate system designed for balance. As New Testament believers, we may not observe sabbath in the same way as Jewish believers in Old Testament times, but the pattern of scheduled rest is intended for us as well. Cycles of day and night and seasons with longer nights and shorter days are meant to offer us a rest and reset. Instead we pull all nighters far beyond college doing projects, reading or binge watching, or in my case, organizing closets. Ultimately, rest is in Jesus.
“Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you.
Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.””
Matthew 11:28-30 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.11.28-30.NLT
I’ve been trying to explain to Thomas what it means to let Jesus help you by His Spirit. He’s the oldest grandchild so I’ve talked with him and prayed with him about more things than the rest. He’s beginning to make connections between real life and the Bible at almost five. He points out Bible stories or scriptures that he hears in songs sometimes before I hear them. We started reading CS Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia together over one long weekend visit and he’s continued with his mom. He easily recognizes the connections to good and evil in the characters and plot. Since he lives two hours away, it’s made for some excellent FaceTime conversations. He and his mom catch me up on what they read the night before and sometimes it gets rather animated.
Remembering Jesus’s words from Matthew’s gospel about taking His yoke and pointing out how someone who is wounded in battle might need to have help walking, I knelt down next to Thomas and placing his arm around my neck as I encircled his shoulders with my arm, I quoted Jesus. As we walked forward together, he let me steer him first one way and then another. He smiled up at me as the light began to dawn. I squeezed him tight and silently thanked Jesus for His help.
When Poppy came home on the day of the inspection, Amelia waited for him by the front door. He lifted her into a hug and when he asked her how her day had been, she answered, “I was bad so I had to take a nap.” Assessing the situation quickly with a glance in my direction, he assured her that she did not get a nap because she was bad. She was probably just tired out from being up early and helping with all of the packing. If she wasn’t entirely convinced, she was at least appeased that Poppy said so and she was on to the next thing quickly enough. I am reminded of the apostle Paul, in his testimony about his Damascus Road conversion, quoting Jesus’s words, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”
Acts 26:14 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/act.26.14.NKJV
Surrender is so much easier than fighting, so why do we fight so hard to have our own way? Why do we push past exhaustion and walk around in a daze, half conscious like my toddler grandson, Timothy, who is trying to be done with napping. My dad watched him scooping piles of sand and gravel into a toy dump truck on our last visit and observed, “He’s shoveling in his sleep.” Where am I going through the motions minus the joy? When I am working so hard to orchestrate events beyond my control, I am missing the beauty of seeing God’s hand in the details as they unfold.
We have God’s Holy Word, the Bible, because God spoke by His Spirit and His messages were written down so that we might recognize Jesus as Messiah, Son of God and by believing in Him, we may have both abundant and eternal life by the power of His name. (John 20:31)
“Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things.
For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
2 Peter 1:20-21 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/2pe.1.21.NIV
“For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”
Ephesians 6:12 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/eph.6.12.NLT
Let’s turn our fight in the right direction, against the enemy of our souls; the great liar and father of lies who prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Taking Christ at His Word, let us deny ourselves and take up His cross daily in absolute surrender. In Him, may we find rest.
“Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.”
Galatians 5:25 NLT
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