Sundays are crazy. Like, having a blender with no lid kind
of crazy. At our house we have the “joy” of getting two toddlers fed, cleaned,
dressed and ready in an hour. Less if we are lucky enough for them to sleep
while we get ready. Most weeks we are also overseeing 6 other children getting
up, fed, dressed and ready during this chaos. About ten minutes prior to
leaving the house I usually start getting dressed and trying to make some sense
of my hair.
This past Sunday was no different than the rest. Equally
crazy, caffeinated and rushed. During church my sweet friend’s baby was fussy
and tired. She brought him into the service with us and my husband and I
quickly fought over who got to hold him (because he is the sweetest little
thing). I held him during the music portion of worship and while I swayed him
back and forth he laid his little head on my shoulder and got incredibly still.
Two things happened in that moment. First, I wondered about
why it is so incredibly sweet to hold a baby and rock him to sleep. Second, I
thought about how much trust these little ones must have in us to be able to
fall asleep while we hold them.
Both of these realizations brought me to a place of worship
within that moment of worship itself.
This is a picture, I believe, of what God offers us.
He says to us, “come to me, all you who are weary and
burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
I don’t know any person who doesn’t feel weary and burdened
at times. Or all of the time. This verse is for us! He is offering us an
invitation to rest in Him.
There are so many more Scriptures with this same sentiment.
He gives us green pastures to lay in, despite the fact that we feel the
scorching sun and lack of rain at times.
… and when we don’t take Him up on the offer of rest, we
have this reminder from David, “Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has
been good to you” (Psalm 116:7). We sometimes have to tell our own souls to be
at rest. We have every reason to be confident in the fact that God is good and
He takes good care of those He loves.
“God gives rest to His loved ones” (Psalm 127:2B NLT).
We can trust Him enough to find rest in His arms. Just like
this sweet little one found rest in mine on Sunday. We can relax our bodies,
our striving, our worry and our minds and just rest in Him and in His presence.
Imagine the joy is brings Him when we do. It is the sweetest
thing.
