Tuckered (8/14/2023)

Yesterday, when I woke at my usual time (a little after 5), I drug myself out of bed, grabbed my coffee and headed to the porch to begin my day. I am pretty sure I left a trail because parts of me felt like they were dragging. I spent my usual wake up time with the LORD, but then I slipped into mother and hostess mode because my son was an overnight guest. At 10:15 a.m. when I slipped into the pew at church and began my Sunday morning pre-mass prayers, I began by admitting to the LORD that I was tuckered. I realize I didn’t need to tell the LORD, the LORD knew, it was really an admission for my benefit.

After church, I stopped and checked on my daughter who was recovering from knee surgery, then I came home and tidied a bit from the family gathering the day before. And then I sat down. And from that moment until bedtime, I was so sedentary that I would have made a rock look busy. I admit the last ten days have been abnormally busy with special circumstances. I was tuckered, but it was Sunday, the day of rest in the LORD. I decided to take full advantage of the custom.

I also admit that at one point I nodded off into a nap in my chair. I awoke an hour later refreshed but still not energetic. My husband and I decided to watch a Hallmark movie – a low impact activity. And I went to bed early for me – 9:30 p.m. – after a short check in with the LORD on the porch about my day and prayers for others for whom I’d promised to pray.

As I slipped into bed last night, Psalm 121 came to mind. I know it by heart in Hebrew. I recited it.

“I raise my eyes toward the mountains.

From whence shall come my help?

My help comes from the LORD,

the maker of heaven and earth.

He will not allow your foot to slip;

or your guardian to sleep.

Behold, the guardian of Israel

never slumbers nor sleeps.

The LORD is your guardian;

the LORD is your shade

at your right hand.

By day the sun will not strike you,

nor the moon by night.

The LORD will guard you from all evil;

he will guard your soul.

The LORD will guard your coming and going

both now and forever.”

The last 10 days have not been easy, but I have not made the journey alone. I recognize so many signs of the LORD’s hand at work in my life and in the lives of those with whom I spent the week. The last thing I did last night before I went to sleep was to thank the LORD who guards my coming and going.

Our journeys differ, our journeys are not easy, we share our journeys with others and often our journeys involve helping others. And while we know that our destination is our LORD and life in abundance with our LORD, one thing that makes the journey with all its demands possible and plausible is our awareness that our LORD accompanies us every step of the way. And when we are tuckered, it is good to allow ourselves to rest in the LORD, our guardian, our shade.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.