Live Life Loved.
The past few days have been rough for this one (and her mama). We have had so many fun things to do and people to see over the past two weeks that we’ve been off our typical schedule and we both get a little loopy when that happens. She tires more often, of course, but isn’t interested in napping for fear of missing something, leaving her mama with one very tired and irritable Micah Bug. She gets to this point where nothing will satisfy her for long. She’s all over the place and into everything. She refuses to listen. Other things are more important than Mommy’s instruction. She bounces to and fro, from one toy and adventure to another, as if trying to find something that will ease her restless state, but every failed attempt just seems to leave her hopes flatter and mood worse.
A couple of hours before her typical nap time on Monday I’d finally had enough. We’d been trying to visit with family we don’t see often, but sweet girl just couldn’t keep it together and mama was unraveling close behind her. When we got home I fed her a quick lunch and we headed off to bed.
Baby brother had thankfully fallen asleep in the car on the way home and was napping peacefully in his pack-n-play, allowing her and me the opportunity for much needed cuddle time as she drifted off to sleep. As soon as we snuggled in and her head hit my shoulder, she stilled. I felt the tension drain from her exhausted little body as she finally decided to just let go and rest. She lay there quietly for a while watching the ceiling fan turn and letting me run my fingers through her hair before drifting off to sleep.
My girl. She’s so much like me. How easily I get wrapped up in the busyness of life, so absorbed in running here and there I don’t even realize how worn down I am. How tired. How irritable. How focused I am on my priorities and insensitive I am to God’s. So much so that like my Micah Bug, I’m not even listening as He tries to guide me, “Careful, Love!”…”Come back this way!”…”Please don’t do that.”…”That could hurt you.”…”What did I just say?” Instead I just charge ahead, thinking I know what I’m doing and can totally handle it, until I run head first into a wall. Again.
I don’t know if you’re familiar with Elijah’s story in 1 Kings, but it’s a favorite of mine. I couldn’t help but think of him as my sweet girl melted into a deep sleep at my side. At one point Elijah is fleeing a death threat from the train-wreck-of-a-queen Israel had at the time, Jezebel, and is trekking through the desert. He has taken his eyes off the good God who’s seen him through time and time again and instead focused them on his circumstances. He finally grows so weary and dismayed that he gives up and asks God to take his life. Keep in mind, this is a man who called for a drought and not one drop of rain fell for three years! He called down fire from heaven as a challenge to one of Israel’s false gods and God dropped it like a bomb. He once raised a boy from the dead, y’all. He’s a biblical rock star. Yet in this instance he had lost his way and he was spent. Spiritually and physically drained. So what did God do? Well, He didn’t take his life. He didn’t even chastise him. He gave him rest and a meal. Not once, but twice. After his first meal, Elijah, still exhausted, fell back to sleep. The angel of the Lord woke him again later with more food and water, saying, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.”
Like Elijah (and Micah), we too need rest and sustenance to thrive in daily life, and not just physically speaking. The provision of rest, bread, and water in Elijah’s story isn’t meaningless. Like the entire narrative of the Old Testament, they signified what was coming, or better yet, Who was coming, and all that would come with Him.
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” – Matthew 11:28-30 (ESV)
“Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” – John 6:35 (ESV)
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” – John 6:51 (ESV)
“But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” – John 4:14 (ESV)
Every life created by God is on a journey purposed by God and each morning, when we arise from our rest and start our day, we choose to go it alone or take Jesus’s advice to Elijah and “arise and eat.” We choose, consciously or subconsciously, whether or not to ask for and partake in the Daily Bread He’s provided (Exodus 16) that is unquestionably available to us. When Elijah awoke, He didn’t even have to ask! It was already there. He simply had to “take and eat” (Matthew 26:26). And on those two meals and two naps, he journeyed for 40 days. Surely God will give us enough each morning to get us through our one. Open your Bibles. Read the Word. Pray bold prayers. Listen intently for guidance…
…and when you realize you’ve gotten lost along the journey of your day, remember the face of this sweet girl as she rests peacefully in her mama’s arms, and let it remind you of who your God is and how much He cares for you. That no matter how many tantrums you’ve thrown or how far you’ve wandered, His arms are right where you left them, always open and ready to receive you. Always hoping you’ll choose to return to the only place from where you can truly live life loved.
