Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

• Matthew 11:28-30

The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

• Mark 6:30-31

The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

• Exodus 33:14

Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
    and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
    and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.

• Isaiah 40:28-31

I was catching up on my blog reading the other day and I saw a post by Leila Grandemange, Seven Powerful Bible Verses to Help when you’re Tired.

Leila had taken several months off from posting anything and she explained that, from time to time, we all need a break.  She said we needed to read our bodies.

Right now, my body needs a long rest, but the thing that I find most relaxing is my writing.  I guess that is the son of a couple of workaholics talking, but I really enjoy writing and only a few posts get to be exhausting.

Why do I need a long rest?  I have not recovered from my wife’s stay in the hospital.  Of course, in some respects, I have replaced driving to the hospital and sitting with her with being her servant here at home as she is too weak to do much of anything, and back to being the driver when she has dialysis.

We have found out that the dialysis center knew her blood count was into the danger zone, but they did nothing.  When Leila spoke of reading our own bodies, it took me looking at my wife wasting away.  We thought it was her way of dealing with the dialysis, not knowing something else was brewing.  But the center had a warning sign a week before I took action based on my untrained eyes and my deep concern.  I got the doctor visit scheduled and while at the doctor visit, I opted for the emergency room based on what I heard.  That combination saved my wife’s life.

But I am exhausted as a result.

I did not write for roughly four days out of the five days that were spent taking her to the hospital, visiting her, and bringing her home.  And to top it off, I had technical difficulties with my CPAP one night and got less than half a night’s sleep.  With another night of insomnia thrown in, I am missing roughly two night’s sleep, since the ER trip ended in the early morning, getting to bed after 2:00am.  Then our son in Tennessee called at 6:30am to see how his Mom was doing.

Should I complain about being exhausted when my wife’s blood count is still not up to a normal range, which means her body needs more oxygen.  If I had her problems added to my general fatigue, I probably would not be functioning.  Note to self: do another load of laundry tomorrow before taking your wife to the doctor for a check-up.

But Leila is correct, and the Bible verses are instructive.  We need rest, and God provides for us.  Thus, we should take advantage of the rest we get.  When we are “away from keyboard” (AFK), enjoy the rest rather than see the hours of “unproductive time” fly by.  Wow!  I am really the offspring of two workaholics!!

And even though this trip to the hospital disrupted our lives, it taught us valuable lessons.  If the flowers will ever get around to blooming this year, we need to smell a few of them.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.