Rest

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Matthew 11:28-29 (KJV)

My brain is dead. My mind is completely blank. Today is my Friday after a very long work week. My work schedule changed with the beginning of Fall. I now work four nine hour days and one four hour day. Well, that’s what I am supposed to work, but it will take a couple of weeks to get into the routine. Things are a bit off kilter due to meetings I agreed to before reorganizing my calendar. So, this week, instead of a half day on Wednesday, I’m taking a full day on Friday. Seems like a fair trade to me! Take my four hours of flex time and I’ll raise you four hours of comp time and we’ve got a deal. I’ve earned my time off! What all did I accomplish in my thirty six hours at work this week? Did research on a major granting agency that I will be helping prepare an application for and went to a meeting to discuss approaches for the application to that foundation. Spent a whole afternoon in interviews with the top two finalists for an executive director position with a new non profit organization in our community. I was on the search committee, and I think we ended up with an amazing woman who will lead us in the right direction. Arranged for payment on the final phase of a grant, picked up the check and celebrated that work being DONE! Took a potential board member out to lunch to twist his arm into serving. Visited with staff at one of our sites, did a weekly report to my boss, attended at Board of County Commission meeting to receive a proclamation declaring September, Youth Court Month, participated in a round table of all the historical sites in our community to plan some collaborative events, reviewed an office wide policy on sick leave as related to the flu season, helped coordinate a community public art event, discussed some changes to our county History Fair, and helped to plan two parties, one for an employee’s retirement and one for the 30th anniversary of our Historical Records Library. In the midst of all that, I went out to lunch two days in a row to reconnect with some friends, did registration for a women’s Bible study I will start teaching next week, got youngest son off each day to Fire Academy, rose 45 minutes early to fix lunches, baked three dozen cookies for a church event and dropped exhausted into bed each night. This weekend, I hope to sleep late, go horseback riding, work on some glass, perhaps even take a nap! Just like all these meetings show up on my work calendar, I must schedule time to rest. After all, it’s Labor Day weekend to honor the laborers not to labor! Even before we fall down in an exhausted heap and find our burdens to heavy to carry, Christ calls us to come to Him. And He will give us rest. True rest.