Tuesday, November 15, 2011

In God We Trust

Matthew 11:28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest

I have a morning routine that seldom changes, even on my days off. Alarm-bathroom-dresser-closet-feed and water dogs-get Tom up.

That's where things get really interesting.

My wonderful, patient, giving, loving and compassionate husband is not a morning person. And by "morning", I mean any time before noon if it's his day off. In order for me to get us to work on time, my morning goes something like this...

"Tom, honey, it's time to get up."  I usually say this several times..
At some point, one foot slides from under the covers and raises up. That's my cue to put on his socks, which I do most every morning. (He can't sleep with socks on) If I don't see the foot voluntarily arise from it's cocoon, I gently tap his foot and he responds by lifting it, much like my old horse, Jim, used to!

"Tom, it's 6:15, honey, it's time to get up" (we leave at 6:30). This usually results in a repostioning of the body; a roll, a wiggle, or, if I'm really lucky, I get to see the whites of his eyes...

"C'mon, Thomas!" My voice gets a little more stern at this point. "You are already late!"
"Late" is the magic word. He hates to be late for work, mostly because he doesn't want to stay over and make it up.
Once awake, he gets going pretty well, and can get ready fairly quickly. I believe he does this for one reason and one reason only.

Once in the car, he goes back to sleep. He kicks back, pulls his hat down, and snoozes the entire 45 minute drive from Mitchell to Bloomington.

Dog...

This morning I looked over and caught a glimpse of him in the random headlights, and his peaceful slumber amused me, and inspired me.

In this thing we call life, it is often difficult to rest. We fuss and worry, we hit our invisible brake, grab the dash and, as Tom so laughingly accuses me of when he drives, look ahead for miles just in case the road gets a little dangerous. We often forget God wants to be in the driver's seat!  We should be able to lay back, rest and rejuvenate, so that we can be ready to take the wheel when the time is right. We can trust Him to gets us where we need to be, on time, in order to do the job He has assigned to us.
It's all about having faith in the guy behind the wheel.

When I pull into the parking lot, he begans to rouse. He gets out, stretches, groans and smiles at me. As he prepares to slide into the driver's seat he leans over, kisses me and says "Thank you, baby. That's the best sleep I get."

When life gets crazy, and exhausting, and you just can't seem to find any peace, I suggest you just pull over, kick back in the passenger seat and say "Why don't you drive awhile." It'll be the best sleep you get.

Rest easy my friends...God's got this...

Thursday, November 3, 2011

security

My sister calls me Suzy Homemaker.

Sarcastically.

I suppose if you wanted to eat off my floor you could, but I wouldn't advise it. Between 2 dogs and one husband who has hoarding issues, my house is full of movable items. Move this to sit down, move that to get into the spare room, move something else to get to the refrigerator, most recently a compound mitre saw.
(In his defense, he was putting in a new floor...it just took a while!)

There's lots of stuff here. Music equipment, boxes of toys, shelves of books, shoes on the floor, pillows on the couch, candy in the bowl and a random glass or two abandoned on various surfaces.

But there's no place my kids and grandkids would rather be. This is home, clutter and all. There are very few sacred items, and even the guitars are up for grabs if you really want to give it a try. We also have a resuscitated Jazzy, with  zero-turn radius capabilities, that makes a great joy ride on a hardwood floor.

I recently commented to my oldest granddaughter, "I don't know why you want to come here all the time. It's a mess, and you have to sleep on that uncomfortable couch..." She just smiled and shrugged "Any house will do Nan, as long as you're in it." She is the same child that once said to me "I get good sleep here."

I realized that was the perfect expression of love, trust and security. 
No worries...

As children of the Almighty God, we should feel that exact same way. When our life gets cluttered, when our environment gets a little uncomfortable, we need only look into the face of our loving Lord and say "If you are with me, it's OK." Just because things aren't perfect, doesn't mean His love isn't. Just because pain comes, doesn't mean healing isn't on the way, and just because we don't see them, doesn't mean He doesn't shed tears for us.

I hope my home is always a haven for my children, my grandchildren and all the others that I have adopted through the years. My couch may be cluttered, but my heart is always open and my refrigerator is always full.

I am my Father's daughter...