Waiting

Parenthood comes with lots of "waiting" time. This isn't something anyone warns you about. Not saying there's a lot of calm time just waiting.  Waiting at practice, waiting for potty time, waiting on food to cook or cool (isn't that funny that we have to do both).  Waiting at the doc's, waiting for a phone call, waiting...waiting... Waiting.

Maybe that's why pregnancy comes with so much waiting.  Waiting on a positive test result.  Waiting to tell everyone until you're ready. Waiting for nausea to subside. Waiting to find out what you're having.  Waiting at the docs.  Waiting on test results. Waiting on your water to break.  Waiting on contractions.  Waiting to push.  Waiting on birth.

Having had my first child after being induced at almost 42 weeks I did a lot of waiting.  Now here I am waiting again.  God designed pregnancy to be a certain length of time for different creatures.  Why does ours have to be so long?  Why do we have to wait? And why is it so hard?

Waiting can do one of two things to you.  It can exhaust you or revive you.  We have to LEARN to be good "waiters."

Isaiah 40:31 speaks of the good kind of waiting.

31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

But we often see people who react quite differently to the waiting.  Who impatiently demand change or anxiously blame the waiting on something.  What is different?  Okay let's be honest we all are these "bad waiters" sometimes.

So what can we do?  Shift our focus and be content.  Paul talked about learning to be content in all circumstances.  Not accepting of status quo but so rooted in Christ and so trusting of His plan that you can accept what comes your way.  You can search the scripture but Jesus didn't follow a "traditional life schedule," write out a to do list, or whine about the demands of the job.  No he consistently fed those around him and then turned around and spent time with His Father.

So let us focus on serving while we wait. Let us remember the things we allow our minds to dwell on have power in our life.  As Paul wrote:

Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies. (‭Philippians ‭4‬:‭8-9‬ MSG)

Harmony and peace while waiting.

May 14 - Rest in Jesus

Read: Matthew 11:28-30

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28 ESV)

Rural farm life is a very laborious lifestyle. There are tons of things that must consistently and regularly be done to keep the various animals and plants. It is taxing over time. It is hard but honest work.

Jesus was familiar with hard work. He grew up in the home of a carpenter. In all likelihood he was trained as a carpenter. What kind of labor was he talking about resting from?

Jesus was speaking to a people group who were being taxed, both literally and figuratively, at every angle. The Romans taxed them, their own king taxed them, and even the religious system, the Temple priests, taxed them. He was speaking to a group of people who were intimately familiar with the notion of working in vain.

The Jews strained under the yoke of an oppressively cruel occupying military force. They struggled beneath the inexhaustible appetite of a wicked royal dynasty. The one place that should have been their champion, the one place that should have offered answers, and a respite for their souls, was the Temple; but it was perhaps the heaviest yoke of all. The Temple had become such a horribly corrupt system of extortion and entrapment that the devout were enslaved to empty promises that brandished a ludicrous price tag. All of that sounds eerily familiar.

Jesus offered an alternative. He announced that he was the way to God. He demonstrated power and authority in keeping with that claim. And then he offered it free of charge. He offered rest. He offered change.

That sounds pretty good to me. I could use a rest like that. What about you?

March 18 - Rest

Read: Matthew 11:25-27

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28 ESV)

We live in a face paced world. It is an age of instant gratification, rapid information, and rampant busyness. We pack our schedules full to bursting, and often with necessary things, but when do we rest?

Jesus spoke to the crowds about rest. He offered them rest from the insane nonsense that had been heaped upon them by the religious elite. He offered them change.

We need that same kind of change today. Sometimes it's from our own stupidity. Sometimes we are looking for a rest from the craziness that comes into our lifes from others. Jesus is a place we can go to and find rest. Whether it is an actual change in our schedule, or it is a total change of lifestyle—Christ is compelling us to see that our way leads to burdens and the broken backs of heavy living. He, in turn, offers rest. In the midst of this remarkably busy season of ministry a little rest sounds pretty good right about now.

Move the Pillow

It's midnight, and after a long crazy day of full throttle activity you finally crawl in bed. You're ready to sleep. Sleep sounds really good. So good. You settle in, and begin steering your consciousness toward dream land. Only there is a problem. It's not the blanket; those are just right. And it's not the temperature, noise level, or your pajamas. Everything seems perfect except for one thing...your pillow. For some reason your pillow just doesn't seem right. I mean, it's still your pillow. It feels like your pillow, smells like your pillow, and holds like your pillow, but something is off. Have you ever felt like that? You lay down at night ready to snooze, only you can't because your pillow just doesn't seem quite right. Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm nuts. But it doesn't really matter how tired I am, when I lay down my pillow has to lay just the right way for my head to find all the correct familiar lumps. I need the right lumps to navigate me into the Land of Nod. The pitiful thing is that all of too often I will hit the bed, lay on the pillow and, even though I realize its not positioned to my optimum comfort level, I will try to ignore it. I tell myself that I can still sleep, that I am too tired to mess with it, that I can just ignore it and all will be ok. I am almost always wrong. If I sleep without moving it, I never rest as well as I could have. Or, if I do rest, I wake up with some minor ache in my neck from having my pillow out of sorts.

Perhaps that all sounds crazy. I may sound like some kind of obsessive compulsive pillow nut. That's not far from the truth. However, there is another truth in my rambling. Tragically, all too often people go through life dragging along some sinful something that they refuse to deal with. It is like their comfortable pillow. They know it has its lumps. They know that they may wake up wishing they had made a change, but they don't.

I believe that God wants more for His kids than to let us wrestle restlessly through life. He wants peace, and joy, and all of the other things that the Bible talks about that are fruits of His Spirit at work in us. Sadly, many people will not embrace the change that Christ offers. It's not a matter of you and I working it out. We don't earn it. We can't earn it. It's simply a matter of acknowledging our need for Him, wanting a change, believing Jesus made it possible, and embracing that belief. Discounting that is a lot like refusing to move the pillow, except the consequences are much worse than a bad night's rest.

Running from the Sleep Monster

When my son goes to sleep he doesn't first stop to consider where he is, what is going on around him, or where he might be headed. If he is sleepy he does one of two things; he either tries to fight off sleep and becomes irritable and cranky, or he just eases straight into rest. As anyone who has ever cared for a small child can probably tell you, they can sleep pretty much anywhere so long as they bypass, or make it through, that irritable restless phase my wife calls "running from the sleep monster".

The seventh verse of the thirty-seventh Psalm begins with this phrase, "Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him..."

Often I find myself getting antsy and fidgety when it comes to expecting something from God, but the proper response in such a situation is to simply wait, or rest, in Him. But like so many others, I am often not content to wait--sometimes going so far as to think that I can somehow help God in the situation. What actually usually happens is that I make myself miserable. Instead of resting in His promise, or on His Word, I manufacture a path of my own choosing. I often walk into what I can see or where I can comfortably understand the way that lies before me. This is folly.

When my son finally gives in to sleep it doesn't matter where he is. He sleeps. And He LOVES it, if he can sleep in mommy or daddy's arms. God is not the "sleep monster". We gain nothing by ignoring His call for us to rest in Him. Take a breath. Relax. Turn your anxiety, worry, and stress over to the Loving Heavenly Father who is far more qualified to handle all your cares. Rest in Him.