He’s Faithful

Every morning I wake up to the sound of chirping birds, singing their love songs to God.  I often wonder how it is that birds are so cheerful, even on cloudy days. When the skies were overcast and I wanted nothing more than to simply sleep, even the sound of those cheerful birds didn’t awaken me.

Sleep is a big word for me.  As a new mother, I’ve developed an appreciation for mothers of two children or more who have succeeded at parenting despite the odds, challenges, and struggles.  They are an inspiration to me and help me to see what it means to be balanced.

There are times that I can’t help but to quip with God, “Okay, Lord, another day of work, work, work.  How do you expect me to do this?”  Working a full time job and balancing family life had been quite a challenge to me – both hectic and nauseating at times.

Although there were many times I wanted to give up at the end of each day, I only woke up the next morning to a nest of chirping birds, seemingly reminding me that God’s mercies are new every morning.

I’ve found that in spite of the difficulties life brings, God’s presence is always there.  He lets me know that He is with me and that He’ll never leave me.  Even in my daily challenges, which may seem minute and trivial to others, God is an ever present help.  What a faithful Savior!

As I look up at the morning skies through my bedroom window, I see a vast array of colors: hues of blue, red, and yellow.

The sun gently rising on the horizon and spreading a host of brilliant colors my way, I have a sudden moment of clarity – a certainty that God is faithful.

Just as He transforms the night sky into a beautiful morning tapestry, I rest assure that He has every intention of turning our lives into that panorama of beauty…the kind of beauty that only results from our every day challenges in life.

What Is Your Ideal Vacation?

I’ve spent a good deal of my summer trying to figure out what to do with myself , my husband, and my two little girls- age 1 and 7.

What to do, what to do.

Well…I knew I had birthday parties to plan, music lessons to get my children to, and of course play dates.  But I wondered what I would do for myself that would give me the much-needed vacation I felt I deserved. I’d worked hard at a long, productive year of homeschooling, plucked slowly, but steadily toward my business goals, amidst balancing the daily tasks of family life (like cleaning, organizing, raising kids)…and now I NEEDED a vacation!

But that got me to thinking.   What are vacations, really?

A getaway at the beach, a fabulous weekend at a ritzy resort, swimming at the lake, birthday parties, summer sports matches…all of these sound like wonderful fun.

But what does our heart tells us a true vacation is?

What a vacation might be for you, may look like an entirely different ordeal when the ball is in my court.  But not only do we differ as individual women in the way we view a time of rest and peace, but God sees His wonderful creation in a total light- He sees us as needing rest in a whole other dimension.

You see, when God gives us rest, He doesn’t necessarily give us a free pass at the spa with our name on it.  He doesn’t necessarily give us a summer of fun outings, great food, and a host of friends…although these things are great, and typically make up our ideals of a perfect summer vacation.

What God sees when He looks upon His beautiful women, is the desire to give us true rest and peace.  This kind of peace comes from within, given to us by the power of God Himself.  This kind of vacation is rest in its truest definition.  Apart from our summer fun and frolic, our Lord wants to crown us with the kind of “peace that passes all understanding”; the kind of peace that sticks with us no matter the chaos surrounding us.

After a good bit of reflection, I came to the conclusion that what a vacation really means to me is a closer fellowship with my Lord. Although I am planning a beach getaway for July, I’ve decided that time spent alone with the Father in the midst of my harried days is far more valuable to me than any big vacation I have planned.

And I figured– that way, I could not only enjoy my “vacation” during the summer, but year round.

What does a vacation mean to you?