Our Bible verse for today: “My soul finds rest in God alone …” Psalm 62:1 (NIV)
Our thought for today: “Enjoy the peace of God.”
I had an interesting and enjoyable experience yesterday morning. It was an experience I’ve had many times before, but not so much recently. I’m on vacation right now and I began it with a quick trip to California to spend a few days with my daughter. Tracy is an adult but she has some fairly serious mental and physical handicaps and therefore she is rather high-maintenance (in that she requires a lot of constant care and attention). So although I always enjoy my time with her, after several days of providing 24/7 care as we did some vacation activities together, I found myself a bit worn out. Beyond that, my flight home was delayed and I didn’t get home until 3:30 AM.
After about four hours of sleep I got up, grabbed a cup of coffee, and sat out back on the porch. There was a gentle breeze blowing, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, I had nothing to do and nowhere to go. After three days of airports, rental cars, and caring for Tracy, now it was just me and God along with the cool breeze, the singing birds, and the coffee. There was a deep sense of relaxation and peace. I just sat there soaking-in the stillness and enjoying a great sense of God’s presence. It was deep and rich and very soothing.
Although I begin every day in quiet time with the Lord, almost always it’s with the awareness that I have a full day of responsibilities and activities waiting for me right on the other side of that quiet time. Therefore there’s often a subtle sense of urgency underlying it all and my time with the Lord isn’t entirely the thing of peace and spiritual nurture it should be.
However when we allow ourselves times of true Sabbath-rest, when our schedule is free and we can therefore just sit with the Lord as long as we please, it creates a bubble in time when we can just relax and enjoy God. There are no pressing concerns, there are no distractions, it’s simply you and God, the soft breeze, the singing birds, the shining sun, and coffee.
Psalm 62:1 was very real for me that morning. My soul found peace and rest in God. I hope that’s sometimes true for you too. I encourage you to be intentional about carving out those relaxed, unhurried, peaceful times with God.
Oak Hill Baptist Church