During my growing up years I envisioned going through life as Miss Patty Perfect, but somehow I have never had time to achieve perfection. My husband and I had our first child thirteen months after we married and our second child fourteen months later. With the combination of marriage and motherhood, I plunged headlong into the rapids. As I have bumped along the bottom, hitting rocks and floating debris, I have often become bruised and worn and weary.
Have you ever been just bone tired? Have you ever wished you could stop the world and get off and find a quiet place where you have no responsibilities for awhile? I heard Billy Graham say that he intends to just sleep his first hundred years in heaven. The psalmist's heart cry in Psalm 55:6 has often been mine as well, "Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest." Women like the line from the song The King is Coming that says, "Busy housewives cease their labor." My husband, who practiced law for many years, likes the next line, "In the courtroom no debate."
What do you do when you are weary of bumping along in the rapids of life? Truly, fellow traveler, even when there is not rest for our bodies, there is rest for our hearts and souls. The hymn writer wrote, "There is a place of quiet rest near to the heart of God." Jesus gives us that beautiful invitation in Matthew 11:28, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." One reason the 23rd Psalm is such a favorite of so many people is its message of rest and refreshment as we inwardly lie down in green pastures, walk beside still waters, and have our Shepherd restore our souls. And Isaiah gives us a great reminder in those familiar verses of chapter 40:29-31, "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."
This is what the Christian's Quiet Time is all about. It is the place where we can go each day to find rest and refreshment and restoration and encouragement to keep on keeping on as we read God's Word and as we meet with God Himself in prayer. I find that really good devotionals and a journal, or notebook, to write out my thoughts and prayers are also a great help. Even in the midst of the rapids of everyday life we can draw apart and find rest for our weary souls.
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