It's Time To Wake Up!!

It’s time to wake up!

“R-i-i-n-n-n-g-g, r-i-i-n-n-n-g-g”, the alarm clock shrieked. “Ugh”, you grunt. “It’s time to get uuuuupp. I doon’t want tooouuuuoo”, you moan with mild force as you squeeze the words out of your throat rather than a breath from your lungs. “I just want to sleheheheepp!” You lie there, with your eyes closed, pleading to . . . no one. . “Just a few minutes more”.

“Wow”, you murmur through a clouded mind, “these forty winks are more restful than the whole night’s sleep”. Suddenly, an intensifying feeling comes over you. As though traveling through a quick time warp you feel as though a huge chunk of time has zipped passed you. Your body spasms, as your “mind time clock” produces an earsplitting ring inside your sleepy head. You are jolted out of your trance, and spring up like a jack-in-the-box that’s reached its last tight tension-filled turn, and boom#@!*&^ - that triggered the lurch that almost pulled your back out.
With blurred vision, you obscurely look at the clock and realize that only minutes have passed. As your body relaxes, you quickly become tranquil and are tempted to lie down once more. Fighting the reality all the way and knowing yourself all too well, you briskly toss the blanket off your warm body and it lands heavily on the person who was sleeping peacefully next to you (okay you could be alone-there are worse things in life-oh, I’m sorry, you like it that way, yeah right . . .). You clumsily walk toward the bathroom with your equilibrium still off and eyes half closed, turning your feet in toward the center of your torso, one foot in front of the other trying to gain balance from your intoxicating doze. You reach the vanity and in an attempt to place both hands on the counter top your wrists roll clumsily and land palms up, causing them to bear unnecessary weight. You then give in to a rounded back and let your heavy head hang for a nanosecond (any Mork & Mindy fans?).

You pull it together and gather the strength to lift your head and look up into the mirror and see . . . a version of you. “Not bad,” you think examining yourself, turning your head side to side. “Only a few locks of hair out of place” (of course you would never admit to having that special-do, with a diagonal parting of the hair and interesting lifts, flat planes and Mohawks that could never be duplicated with mousse and hair-freeze). You’ve got slightly swollen eye lids, a crease or two on the side of your cheeks, and lightly pursed lips that complete the niggling your started since the first sound of the morning’s alarm (question: first time for you or perhaps a regular break of day routine?).

Is this funny? Yes. I think it’s something we can all relate to. Is this the way to feel after a night’s rest? No.

Webster’s Dictionary definition of rest (“Webster” is my close friend this week) is: peace, ease, and refreshment as produced by sleep. Other definition: relief from anything distressing, disturbing, annoying, tiring, peace of mind; mental and emotional calm; tranquility.
Wake up people! It’s a new day. The day you proclaim to be rested, refreshed, awakened, alive and ready to live!

I am reminded of the lyrics of a beautiful hymn that is often sung in church, “Be not afraid, I go before you always, come, follow me, and I will give you rest”. Isn’t God good! He wants you to rest. He wants you to give him all your troubles. Why don’t you. Do it right now. Give it all to him. Let go of all that went wrong yesterday. Let go of everything you’re not looking forward to today. Today’s a new day and you WILL ENJOY IT!!

Now, let’s dedicate some time get acquainted with “rest”.

Genesis 2:1 “Thus the heavens and the earth and all their array were completed. Since on the seventh day God was finished with the work he had been doing, he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work he had done in creation.” So, don’t do it, don’t work on Sunday. Don’t work on the house, don’t work on the yard, don’t pay the bills, don’t work on yourself, just enjoy the day! Visit your family and friends. Take a brisk walk in the morning while the air is still cool. Read two pages from an inspirational book that will set an encouraging tone for the day. Do take time and devote it to God. It would please Him immensely! Start the morning off with your seat at church. Okay, sometimes the priests, deacons, preachers, and/or reverends might be a little hard to, well, understand. Cut them a little slack. Perhaps they have not perfected your cool way of speaking and communicating, everyone’s not perfect. However, they have dedicated their lives to Christ and, well, to you. So tolerate their accent, get past their odd, rather, different way of “splaining” things. The message is what’s important. Follow along with the readings, get what you can out of it. You might try writing down the scripture cites and read them again at home. It’s okay to invest a little more time; this great message will carry you through the week (you might try to attend church at a different hour or try out a different church-that actually is kind of fun and adventurous).

Moses was to lead the Israelites through the desert and asked the Lord to be with him. The Lord said to Moses, “I myself will go along to give you rest”. Exodus 34:14. Come on, really, who wants to do anything alone. It’s always better to do things with someone, especially someone you can trust. You can trust in God. He doesn’t want you to work hard. He doesn’t want you to stay where you are at. He wants you to advance, to prosper. Yeah, so we’ll go through trying times, we can’t avoid it. Moses and his friends were to take a few days journey and wound up being lost for 40 years (because of their disobedience to God) just trying to find their new home. But hey, the good news, God will be with you every step of the way until you get it. So, come on troubles, hit me with your best shot!

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” Matthew 12:28. Okay, yes you have to work and you’ve got great responsibilities. Who doesn’t? You don’t like it? Why what bothers you about it? Is there a co-worker you don’t like? Are your relatives too much in your business? Too many questions? Do they have a few hang ups? Too quiet? Too . . . . what? Well, hello, reality check, we’ve all got idiosyncrasies. Look, this guy or gal may not have had the best people around them growing up. Maybe this person has been burned one too many times. Perhaps through out this guy’s life he’s been ignored. What’s it going to hurt for you to pay a little attention to the man (or woman, I’m not being “a hater”). Ask some questions about his life. Have some compassion. Buy the guy lunch. Do something nice for him to make him smile, make him feel cared about. Stop judging and start being meek and humble of heart. It worked for Jesus, why not for you!!!

Okay, these parables and quotes from “The Bible” may not necessarily be familiar to you, however, the words are powerful (Yippee!! Doesn’t it make you want to open up your beautiful book – you will!). Oooh, I’m so excited for you!

Now a man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who had anointed the Lord with perfumed oil (to prepare Him for his death) and dried His feet with her hair (you’ll have to read the story, it’s so moving). Jesus loved his friend Lazarus and went to see him. Jesus said, “This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” John 11:4. Jesus said, “Our friend Lazarus is asleep, but I am going to awaken him.” But Jesus was talking about his death (resurrection – heaven), while they thought that He meant ordinary sleep.

Jesus stayed with his friend for two days and then told his Disciples that they would return to Judea. The Disciples reminded Him that the Jews were trying to stone Him in Judea and advised him not to return, and Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in a day? If one walks during the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”

What is the light the shines in you? I’m not talking about a talent (however, gifts should not be ignored and definitely shared). What makes you who you are? Who are we imitating? Each other? Okay, here’s an eye opener: We are not our best example (sorry, I know the truth hurts doesn’t it? I know, I thought I was a good model too.) Jesus came so that we would know how to behave. I’ve only lived for 50 years and I have yet to come across anyone who comes close to living a life like Jesus did.

So what does that mean, well, we all have the same opportunity to be His best imitator. You know how we mortals are, always wanting to be like someone else. We’ll just skip all the non-sense and get right to the crux of the matter, Jesus is our guy! He’s the Man! The one we shall imitate. Man, woman or child – we choose Jesus! Yes, I knew you were smart.
Don’t you feel great!!!! Now, you are a new person, with a new attitude. This is wonderful, seeing all this change. I didn’t think there would be so many of you excited about transformation!!! And you thought you were living before, huh!!!

This is a new day, unlike all other past days. When the morning comes and your alarm sounds you will know joy like never before.

It is God’s desire that we all enjoy and are happy on this earth that he created. That we would be free from troubles and he specifically asks us to cast all our cares upon Him.

At night, when you are ready to rest your body from your day, I’d imagine that it would be God’s hope that you:

Enjoyed the time you had with others at work, at home and at play. That you were able to see beyond everyone’s faults, as God sees you beyond yours. That you were able to use the gifts that God gave you to help others, assist an employer fulfill a dream, bring a smile to another’s face, and to feel the satisfaction that comes from thinking of others rather than yourself. That you were able to prepare a meal with love, or receive and appreciate the time and labor for a meal prepared for you. That you would come out of your protective “self” and share your money (yes, that’s what I said, share it if you’ve got some to spare), time, energy and life with others. Hey people, we can’t take it with us. God does provide! He’d hope that you may find reward during your day and recall the moment that you brought warmth to a life, a family, a smile to someone’s face, laughter to a lonely person or place, or shared a warm meal with someone who feels deserted or secluded. God will bless you because you were patient, kind, and loving to those who have not found their way just yet.

You’ll see that when you’ve given what you think is “your all” or your “last dollar”, you’ll always receive more. God’s got some in reserve for you baby. He’s got your back!

Yes, believe that when you lay your head down to rest at night, your body will rebuild and refuel itself, and in your dreams you’ll recall the day’s good works and sleep soundly.
When the alarm sounds in the morning, you will feel confident that while you slept God was working on a great plan for you.

I pray that you hear the beautiful bells, harps and chimes that play a heavenly song to arouse you from a rest that only God’s light can provide. Live in his light, follow it throughout your day and life. There is no fear when the sun goes down, because God protects those who praise Him, who live for Him, and He blesses those who are a blessing to others.

I’m happy you that you will be awakening rested and ready. While you are here making God’s earthly creation a better place, He is above, out of sight, hard at work, preserving your Heaven. “Do not be afraid, I’ll go before you always. Come follow me, and I will give you rest.”

Don’t you just love being a child of God!