Are you tired?
I am not sure I have ever felt so tired at the end of a summer before.
When we were working on the front room this weekend, the boys took turns laying down on the floor to “rest.” Apparently the small contributions of handing us tape or boards was VERY exhausting. “I just need to rest a minute,” one would say as he lay down on the dusty floor.
I feel ya kid. I’m tired too.
This tired we adults feel right now is more than just a weariness of our limbs after a day full of moving them though. It’s the exhaustion of the world around us – the weight of being human and uncertain and imperfect and the weight of engaging with one another in our flawed humanness.
This morning as I sit and pray, my prayer is once again for you. I know you are tired. I know you are uncertain. I know this road seems endless. But I also believe with all my heart that there is One who wants nothing more than to bring you rest. I pray God blesses you by lifting a bit of the weight from you today. May you feel the embrace of this blessing from Jan Richardson below… and find the peace you did not think was possible.
To all that is chaotic
in you,
let there come silence.
Let there be
a calming
of the clamoring,
a stilling
of the voices that
have laid their claim
on you,
that have made their
home in you,
that go with you
even to the
holy places
but will not
let you rest,
will not let you
hear your life
with wholeness
or feel the grace
that fashioned you.
Let what distracts you
cease.
Let what divides you⠀
cease.
Let there come an end
to what diminishes
and demeans,
and let depart
all that keeps you
in its cage.
Let there be
an opening
into the quiet
that lies beneath
the chaos,
where you find
the peace
you did not think
possible
and see what shimmers
within the storm.
—Jan Richardson
*Jan Richardson has many books of beautiful poems and blessings. Her latest book Sparrow is available now. Check it out here.
