off call - rest

I've spent many Saturday mornings home alone in the last 8 months.  Steve and the boys leave for church.  The house is quiet.  I sit in my big blue chair looking out the window at trees and clouds. Then my mind starts spinning.  I'm not at the hospital!   I'm home!  I've got free time.  There are things to be done.  Unload the dishwasher, load up the laundry, the bathroom needs to be cleaned, bills to pay, I could cook, have dinner ready when they return..... 

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

That's right, rest.  Sit quietly, enjoy the wind moving in the trees, pray, count my blessings, wow, an hour and a half.  I could read that book I've been meaning to or blog, or catch up on emails, or organize my magazines.....

"Be still, and know that I am God;  I will be exalted among the nations,  I will be exalted in the earth." The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.  Psalms 46:10 and 11

I'm trying to.  But.  It is hard to slow down.  It is hard to be quiet.  It is hard to be ok with who I am in the quiet.  It is hard to not get busy.  It is hard to be still.  It is hard to be... 

Brennan Manning writes ..the longer you spend in the presence of Jesus, the more accustomed you grow to His face, the less adulation you will need because you will have discovered for yourself that He is Enough.  And in the Presence, you will delight in the discovery of what it means to live by grace and not by performance.  Abba's Child,  pg. 45

I want that.  

Therefore, since the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.  Hebrews 4:1 

great picture Jacob! The very view from my blue chair in my bedroom.  It relaxes me just to look at it.