This morning I woke up before Lexi, something that hasn't happened since...before Lexi. I had a few minutes to myself before I heard my sweet girl let out a scream and start calling "Mama! Mama!" in a panicked voice. I darted into her room, scooped her up and held her close. I think she had had a bad dream. She held onto me for dear life and rested her head on my shoulder. I held her tight to let her know it was ok. She wasn't budging, so I sat down in the rocking chair in her room and just held her. The minutes passed, her frantic breathing slowed, and her death grip on my neck loosened. I thought she may have gone back to sleep until she started gently teething on my shoulder and patting the back of my neck with her tiny hand. She just wanted to be held and to enjoy the security of Mama. For 20 minutes she never moved; resting so calmly in my embrace. We haven't had that long of a cuddle since she was a much less active baby, many months ago.
As I held her, I prayed over her and began to think. To say that the Lord has taught me much about the Father heart of God via Lexi is an understatement. This morning He illustrated what He means when He tells us to rest in Him.
In Matthew 11, Jesus says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." In Psalm 116, the writer says, "Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you."
I am a geek, so I looked up the Greek definitions for "rest" in the Matthew verses. The first "rest" is defined as: to cause or permit one to cease from any movement or labour in order to recover and collect his strength; to give rest, refresh, to give one's self rest, take rest; to keep quiet, of calm and patient expectation. The second "rest" is: intermission, cessation of any motion, business or labour; rest, recreation.
Lexi was resting in these ways - no movement, quiet, calm, to recover from her dream, and to collect strength from Mama.
This begs the question; do I ever rest to this degree in my Father's arms? Try it - you feel yourself being filled up with His love and the stress of life melts away.
2 comments:
Great post. I think I find myself so tired that when I attempt to REST (to gain more strength from our Lord) in our Father's arms... I fall asleep. I have good intentions, but I am obviously not carving out enough time for my Father, or myself for that matter. Hmmm... stuff to think about. Thanks.
I'm not so sure falling asleep is a bad thing. When you're concentrating on resting emotionally, spiritually, and physically in God's arms, I think it is okay to get comfortable enough and stress free enough to actually go to sleep. That's what babies do in Mama's arms - they go from crying and worked up to completely emotionally and physically relaxed, and then they pass out.
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