Today I sit and wait. Yesterday it was a sinus headache day. I did what needed to be done and then I vegged like a useless potato. As I age, I'm seeing that I don't push back against lagging energy like I used to. Today is better - so far - I exercised - I got some soup going. I don't have anything pressing today (although my calendar shows this is not going to be the case next week where it will pick up dramatically.) But the uselessness of yesterday began to morph into today so that instead of thankfulness that I have a day of rest - a day I would have given my right arm for in the past years of full time work - I'm feeling kind of useless. Too much work, not enough purpose - good grief - can I never be content?
So the next thing I did was turn to the Lord, asking - What do I do with this day? Next, I listlessly read a devotional on my phone, and then, wham, I get the impression to write. Now if that's not the Holy Spirit, I don't know what is! I am not always blessed with such quick answers. Maybe this is something that needs to be shared - so I will - but maybe it's just for me - to record the simple power of lifting my eyes to the heavens.
The devotional I just read was about how Satan attacks women in unique ways. For those in the throes of motherhood, the endless tedium of being in 24-7 servanthood weighs heavily. Hormonal changes and other physical weaknesses, emotional or relationship issues can often become the guage of our spiritual state. Although I am now in the "easy" years of retirement - the lack of energy that comes and goes can be demoralizing.
And yet from my recent study on Aging With Grace by Sharon W. Betters and Susan Hunt, I am reminded again to sit and wait whether it is overwhelm from too much busyness I am fighting or the feeling of purposeless that attacks on a low energy day. The attacks can come from any state! But in this book, Jeremiah 6:16 is quoted: "Stand by the roads, and look. Ask for the ancient paths where the good way is: and walk in it, and find rest for your souls."
Wait - not just in a vacumn of withdrawing - but wait on the Lord. James 4:8 tells us: "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." Aging with Grace offers this bit of wisdom: "God's grace is specific. When it's time to suffer He gives suffering grace. When it's timeto age, He gives aging grace. When it's time to die, He gives dying grace." I follow that wisdom inferring that when it's time to work, He gives working grace. And when it's time to rest, He gives resting grace.
So whether we are fighting the battles of motherhood, are in the throes of juggling a career and homelife, struggling physically, or just facing the diminishing physical abilities and energy of aging, the answer is the same: find time to wait on the Lord. Even for just a moment, find time to lift your eyes to Him.
One of the authors of the book was writing it when she encountered a physical setback where she fought days of fear and fatigue. But as she continued to lift her eyes to the Lord on her unproductive days she was given the thought: "This is not wasted time. It is growing time, because my physical weakness and pain push me to trust Jesus more." After all, Jesus gave these words both to Paul and to us: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Cor. 12:9)
She then asks this question: "How often do we miss God's treasures because we don't recognize the little things as the big things?" You might think that urge to write this morning was just a random thought. I can't explain how I am absolutely assured that it was the Spirit that popped that surprising, not-remotely-on-my-radar thought into my mind. But the waiting that precipitated it caused me to recognize the truth of this quote from Elizabeth Elliot shared in the book: "The place in which you find yourself is the very place where God is giving you the opportunity to look only to Him."
Aging With Grace further shares this wisdom: "As long as we live in this world , we are prone to look down. But the rhythm of rest and daily worship (looking up) recalibrates our minds and hearts in the present moment to remember our destiny and destination while "waiting for our blessed hope." (Titus 2:13) Isaiah 40:31 echoes this thought: "They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength..." The authors then remind us that waiting is an action word, and that "when we cling to Him (as we wait), a supernatural exchange slowly but surely happens, His strength becomes ours."
One of the wise women who participated in the study on this book shared that she clung to this definition of hope that she was given along the way based on Habukkuk 3:19: Hope is getting up, getting dressed and letting the Lord guide your steps that day - that the Lord will be your strength; He will give you hinds feet for high places.
The authors end with this thought on making the most of every day, even the hard ones: "Flourishing at this time in my life is resting in Him, sitting with Him, and hearing Him speak to me from His Word, lifting others up in prayer, smiling at others for Him, giving a word of encouragement when He prompts and being still in Him."
So I share this simple thought for the day that I needed - because it made my day. I share it with the hope that it might make yours.
Aging with Grace
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