Rest for the weary

Monday of the Third Week of Advent

Rise up, and help us,
and save us, for the sake of your steadfast love.
Psalm 44:26
 

As the early afternoon sun warms the room, I think I will just sit for a minute. My body has been asking for a nap for the last hour, but I have resisted. Like a toddler, I don’t want to give in. Maybe I will miss something. And also, there are much better uses of my time.

But the truth is I am bone weary. Still hesitant, I finally lay down and close my eyes. And wake three hours later.

Mary, pregnant, walked the 90-some miles to Bethlehem. Maybe she rode some of that time--on a donkey. So, I’m also sure the mother of Jesus took breaks along the way. If the theotokos, the God-Bearer, could rest on the way to that most holy night, then so can I.

None of us is impervious to the travel fatigue of Advent. Sometimes the help that our loving God offers us is communicated through our own human bodies telling us it is time for sleep.

Image by S. Hermann & F. Richter from Pixabay