Recharge, Refuel, Relax
Sabbath.
I need to go to sleep, but I wanted to take a moment to ponder what this particular Sabbath day has been for my soul. Psalm 4:8 says, “In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.” God alone gives me true rest, and I can go to sleep tonight in His safe arms because of Jesus Christ His Son.
I don’t usually have difficulty falling asleep at night. Most moms with 3 small kids probably don’t because we know we better shut the eyes while we can. Actually I’ve never really had a problem sleeping throughout my life. My sister used to have nightmares, and she would sleep in my bed sometimes. I never had problems, though, perhaps because I loved to hit the pillow so much after a long day. I normally fall asleep after just two or three minutes, and on a day with too much stimulation I typically remember maybe five or six minutes of jagged thoughts before crashing. (Of course being pregnant is an entirely different story!)
Last night, however, Eric and I had a terrible night’s sleep. There was a house two-doors down from ours with a large group of teenagers having an awfully loud party. It started around 10 pm. They were on the back deck and probably drinking under-age. The music was annoying, and at one point some lit fireworks caught a tree or something substantial on fire. Eric called the police, and he watched the cop car merely drive right by the house 10 minutes later. Oh well. There’s not much more we could do except go over to the house ourselves, and we could see clearly that there were no adults home. The fire died down and the music did later, but my main concern (besides the um, big FIRE) was Lydia. She is really scared of fireworks, and I knew if she woke up from the noise, she would have an extremely hard night ahead of her (and consequently so would we). Long story short, they never awakened her, but the party continued until after 2:30 am. Ugh. Eric had to be ready to lead worship early this morning, and I was singing a solo in the other service. Our 13 year-old neighbor Lauren sweetly showed up at 8 am to ride with us and help me, and that was such a blessing. But I was tempted to be bitter and angry at those kids and their absent parents for ruining our “entrance” into the Sabbath. Every time I yawned I started to have angry thoughts. “Lord, those stupid kids are so selfish. If they had any idea how badly we needed a night’s sleep, and if they had any idea how hard I worked yesterday, if they understood that my husband has to stand in front of people wearily trying to lead them to God . . . if they knew how a tender little child would be crying in her bed under the covers . . . ” The sinful thoughts swirled inside.
I realized at church today that these are the kinds of Sabbaths that make me so much more appreciative of God’s kind of true rest. The day of Rest is more than a day of relaxation. It is stepping back and looking at a week full of sinful, angry thoughts and physical fatigue, and resting at the foot of Jesus’ Cross. As I stood and sang a beautifully-written modern hymn, I was awestruck at the humbling thought that God has given us this way to rest in Him.
The sermon reiterated that God’s desire is for us to be happy. When we rest in God, and we don’t try to cover up our sins, he gifts us with his happiness; we are truly blessed. We find happiness in being cleansed through the blood of Jesus. These thoughts recharge my soul and refuel me for another week of service, ministry, and love to others. As much as I wanted to storm over to that party and light into those kids (no pun intended), I prayed last night, “God, help us to have wisdom if we confront them.” God gave us the spirit of love to pray for them, to try to get some sleep, and I know that today He refueled my heart with thoughts of His grace, so that I can reach out to them in kindness instead of anger. We plan on talking to the parents, but we must leave the rest up to God. I doubt this will be the last party over there. And when it happens again, I can lie down in peace and safety and know that there is true rest in God. This is part of what I believe God designed His day of Rest to be. It’s another reason I can thank Him that He knows what He is doing with His children.
Posted in Humility, Ruminations
WOW! Your account brings back memories! We have been in your shoes……when our children were very young (some 20 years ago). Only this party (which BEGAN at midnight on a Saturday) kept our children awake and their bedrooms faced the lawn where the partying was going on. In addition to loud music, and underage drinking there was also some pretty serious sexual activity going on in the yard on the hoods of cars, under the street light, where our children could see. When, my husband tried to go over to kindly and quietly speak to the young people, he was cursed and spat on, and physical violence was threatened. This left us no choice but to call the police, who thankfully shut the party down, almost immediately. Later, the grandmother (in whose home this party was held in her absence) came over and verbally blasted me. I invited her in, offered her coffee, and explained what was going on and how we had attempted to stop it without police interference, and the reaction that we got from the young people. She did not want to believe me, and so I offered her a copy of the police report. She was shocked, I think to see it in writing! And, of course it backed up our claims and wasn’t then our word against the “innocent” children. She was still a good bit angry with us for a while. I kept praying for a way to reach her with kindness and not too much later her dog that she had had for years got run over early one morning. We heard her screaming and crying and went out to help her (when no one else in the neighborhood did). I have often wondered if that was the opportunity the Lord gave us to mend the fence, and forge a relationship wiht that lady b/c ever after she was friendly to us.
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