Finding Rest
I’m taking a winding road this weekend to a place of rest. I’ll be “Getting Down With Jesus” by serving Him at a women’s spiritual retreat in the hills of northwest Iowa.
The Christ beckons:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” — Matthew 11:28-29
While I’m away, I’m sharing a post from the archives with you.
May you find time for Sabbath rest this weekend.
Grace and peace to you, my friends.
— Jennifer
***
The plea came from my littlest princess, wearing a toy crown, just before bedtime: “Mom, can we have our shaving cream bath now?”
Who could resist Her Royal Highness?
For this very purpose, we had purchased a 14-ounce can of “Personal Care Extra Thick Shave Cream — Regular.”
Atop her head, I piled cream, like soft-serve vanilla. She spread the cream on the shower wall, and wrote her name in three-inch-tall letters. With pointer finger, she traced out shaving-cream numbers, 0 through 9.
Beside her, Big Sister practiced spelling words.
On this night, messes were allowed, even encouraged. There were no parental calls to “hurry up; it’s time for bed.”
On this night, they would tarry.
Twenty bucks worth of fun in a $1.06 aerosol can.
***
In these last months, rest has been scarce. No time to tarry, for there was another student paper to grade, another project to complete, another ministry to tend to. All good things, mind you, but they had begun to crowd out my priority mission field: the one here in our home, with our two girls.
“Come unto me,” He calls, “and I will give you rest.”
***
Our children have much: bins full of Barbies, a child-sized kitchen, cribs for babies and approximately 563 stuffed animals. They could get lost in Webkinz World on the laptop, or Mario Brothers on the Nintendo DS.
But the commodity they desire most isn’t packaged by Fisher Price. They want one thing. Just one.
It costs nothing, but has measureless worth. Time.
They want our time.
Time. Stolen moments in cream-covered bathtubs.
Time. Minutes on pavement, drawing Hopscotch patterns with “chalk rocks.”
Time. Sunset Hour in harvested fields, unearthing nature’s gems.
Time.
Candlelit dinners
with Kraft Mac & Cheese.
Saturday morning
picnics, with Honeycomb,
on living-room floor.
Treasure hunts, tractor rides
tick-tack-toe and tuck-ins.
***
May you find true rest in Him today. His yoke is easy.
Oh how fun, moments that are so priceless. Thank you for sharing them. I hope you are as blessed at your retreat as you were by the wonderful playtime you allowed your children.
Time is SO important and unfortunately often overlooked… thank you for this great reminder! Have a wonderful relaxing weekend at your retreat!! 🙂
Amen! Amen! As our girls matured, married and had families, time with them became even more valuable. When they would ask what we wanted for gifts, I told them so many times: time with you. And they took that to heart. Just a few hours with them was always far more valuable than any gift they could have given. It was actually their most precious gift!
I heard a preacher this week say "Time is the new money." By that he meant we need to carefully manage and budget our time for things that really matter – like you did. Great post.
What a fun retreat. Sounds like a wonderful time.
Your daughters pictures are darling.
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Our boys used to play with shaving cream in their younger years. You're right…it's good, clean fun! 😉
Have a wonderful weekend at your retreat!
Blessings,
Beth
May the Lord bless you at this retreat…such a wonderful reminder about that precious gift of time….
Shaving cream in the bathtub; why haven't I ever thought of that?
I have been working on trying to remember that all my children want is my time; for me to sit and play with them or read with them. It is definitely something that is priceless to them.
I look forward to hearing about your retreat!
Wylie
This was convicting. It's so easy to rush through and to the next thing. It's so easy to forget how important a few moments in a "cream covered bath tub" is. Yet, God never fails to take that kind of time for me. Thanks for the reminder!
Can't wait to hear about your retreat — I hope you write about it!
I have found at times in my parenting, I actually had to remind myself to just have plain old-fashioned fun!
Isn't the essence of time what we all crave? To be enjoyed?
Good thing we were created, 'in His image' mind you, to be enjoyed by Him , for His pleasure even, because what He made was exactly what He wanted?!
How do I miss that so often in our own kids?
His yoke is easy. Perfect ending to a powerful post.
Thanks, sweet Jennifer.