When Our 'Get Up' Has Gone
Jeremiah 31:25-26 (NLT)
For I have given rest to the weary and joy to the sorrowing. At this, I woke up and looked around, My sleep had been very sweet.
Exhaustion can become a very familiar feeling. When schedules and concerns take a front seat in our minds, our bodies often pay the price and our ability to rest and experience relaxing sleep may be disrupted. Those are just the times when our ‘get up’ won’t get going.
There are a few promises we need to remember when our pace is frenetic and we’re not finding time to rest:
God is in charge of everything (Proverbs 15:3). As the youth of the day say, He has everything ‘on lock’. God really does know it all and actually sees it all. His level of control is our vantage point. There’s no better place to be than within the comfort His shadow (Psalm 91:1).
When God makes a promise, we can sleep. God promised to restore Israel and deal with her compassionately. When we trust God, and pay attention to our relationship with Him, we learn to believe what He says (2 Corinthians 1:20). And, when we believe Him we can experience the “Amen” kind of sleep- the one that says, ‘I agree. You’ll take care of me.’
We’re not supposed to worry about anything (Philippians 4:6-7). It’s easy to worry, but we can learn to do things differently. We have history with God. We’ve seen Him come to our rescue time and time again. When the odds were against us, He was there with and for us and brought us through every time. His track record proves that our concerns don’t have to take over our minds or lives. We can given it all to Him.
There are few things we can do to help ourselves:
Rest and sleep are good friends to know well. It’s no secret, when we’re not well rested everything we do suffers. Rest is good for our bodies, minds, and tasks. We’re kinder to ourselves and the people we care about when we take time to attend to what we need. There’s no better feeling than to wake up clear-minded and refreshed after having rested well.
We have to know when our day is done. Pushing the limits of our day doesn’t bode well for us or others. When we’re dragging our bodies around, moving from task to task with no break, becoming cranky, or unable to think clearly, we’re missing the signals that need our attention. Sometimes going to bed early is the best gift we can give ourselves. Most of the time that “thing” can wait.
Ease up a little. Everything we do doesn’t have to be at 150%. There are actually times when 80% will do just fine. In fact, we need to be willing to find help to complete whatever needs to be done. Getting help doesn’t make us slackers, it actually makes us wise.
We’re not always our own best friends. Our bodies were created to work for us, and rest is a necessary part of taking care of the only body we’ve been given. We can be kind to ourselves by recognizing our limits, building personal boundaries, and remaining in close relationship with Our Father. When our ‘get up’ has gone, our trust in God and a refreshing time of rest can get it going again.
Prayer
Lord, Thank you for giving us bodies that talk to us. Help us to listen and to do the things that are in our best interest. Teach us how to trust you, so we’re less prone to think that we can do this on our own.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen
Live well,
Michele