“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Matthew 11:28 NIV

I love this verse. As a mom of 3 girls ages 6 and under who also happens to have a full-time job, I desperately need some of this rest more often than I will even admit. I am currently in a season of the school year where I am even more desperate for this rest that usual. Both my husband and I work in public schools so this time of year means state testing, end of the year events, and lots of extra duties. We tend to be tired and our patience is often very thin.  Three young girls who are very messy, incredibly needy, and often clingy, compounds the situation. The concept of having time alone is as rare as my kids noticing a mess on their own and doing something about it. Like many moms my age in this modern world, I live hours away from the majority of both sides of our family, so calling them up for an afternoon break or an overnight escape is really not an option.

So, what about us? What about people like me and many of you reading this that read that verse about rest and would love to have a piece of that, but are currently lucky to  take a trip to the bathroom without someone screaming outside the door? I am learning, very slowly and definitely not always successfully, that it is vital to be guarded and intentional about how we spend our time. When I was a stay-at-home mom last school year, it wa fairly easy to spend time reading my Bible or studying first thing in the morning. Now that I am back at work, I have had to find more creative ways to invest in my relationship with God.

One way I have found to study and keep my faith strong is by finding some great Christian podcasts to listen to on my commute, while I cook dinner, and while I am folding laundry. I have also made it my purpose to sit down every morning when I get to work, before the work day starts, to either journal or read whatever Bible study I am currently working on. I have found that doing that each morning helps me to center myself before the stresses of the day start weighing on me. I also love to read at night. Sometimes it will simply be a reading plan on my Bible app, or maybe whatever book we are studying in our small group, or often a book I am just reading on my own (right now it is Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson). I know that days that I get distracted or my focus is not on God’s purpose for my day, I have a hard day.

All of those things are wonderful ideas, however, my days are not always easy. I started having one of those not so easy days today. My girls have not mastered the concept of sleeping in and when they are up, they think that momma needs to be up too. I tried real hard to be able to go back to bed this morning. Got them juice to drink, something to eat, and put a movie on that they love. However, they were not convinced. Even after I laid back down, there was constantly someone coming in needing something. So, reluctantly, a very crabby momma was up. I tried to make the most of it and brought my book out to read, but inevitably someone was either needing something or crawling all over me. I found myself getting more and more agitated at the level of neediness today. After getting to church it didn’t get much better. The last several weeks my two youngest have decided they like to come in and out from the nursery, and when they are in the sanctuary they are very loud. Today was no exception. When we got home, I fixed them all lunch and waited until they were all happily eating before even attempting to get my own plate, in hopes that they wouldn’t need anything once I sat down. Of course, I was mistaken. As soon as I sat down, one was needing help in the bathroom and another wanted more food. So, what’s a mom to do? This verse about rest had been on my mind since I left church. So, I decided to do something about it. I got my youngest down for her nap and went straight to bed myself. I had a million things to do, and still do, but I realized that me getting some rest would benefit my family more than me begrudgingly washing dishes, cleaning, or doing laundry.

The book I mentioned earlier, Wild Goose Chase, has been a great one so far. One of the things the author talks about is being responsibly irresponsible. When it comes to resting in Jesus, sometimes we need to set some responsibilities aside and simply rest. In the very next verses Jesus goes on to say how his yoke is easy and his burden is light.  Why do we feel like we have to keep carrying our heavy burdens. If Jesus needed to constantly go away from his followers and often even his disciples to spend time in prayer and simply just resting, shouldn’t we do the same? If we want to be able to fully love our children and our husbands well, we need to be well rested and full of the love of God to begin with.

So I want to encourage all the worn out mommas like me out there, learn how to be responsibly irresponsible. The mess will be there tomorrow, frozen pizza is okay for dinner sometimes, and 2nd day clothes are sometimes okay (do the smell test first though). You will never be perfect, but you do need to be present. You can’t give what you don’t have so make sure you spend time abiding in the Word and in prayer. Take time investing in your mental and physical health. Your family will thank you!