Rocking Chair Day

            Do your ever need a rocking chair? Come on, be honest.  And I don’t mean you need one because you’re getting on the older side of life.  Did you need one for the same reason I did?

            When my daughter was four, she attended morning preschool. It wasn’t long after she started that I noticed she didn’t seem to know what to do with herself when she got home. She was at loose ends. Aimlessly wondering around our living room each day when we got home, she seemed to struggle with transitioning into the rest of the day after some much stimulation.

            The best thing I knew to do for her was give her an invitation. I sat down in our rocking chair and asked her, “Do you need some loving?” Then she’d crawl up into my lap, and we’d rock for a bit. Sometimes I spoke gently to her about her morning; at other times we simply rocked. After a while, she’d slip off my lap and be ready to have lunch, play with her sister, and interact. She just needed help bridging her activities.

            Occasionally I need some help bridging my activities, days, weeks. The collision of time with tasks and responsibilities leaves my life spinning and my energy eroded. Often I don’t even know what to think about some of the things that crop up. Then I need some rocking chair time, too.

            In my mind I envision climbing up into God’s lap and feeling his embrace around me as we rock rhythmically to slow me down and reestablish my focus. Of course, God really doesn’t have a big chair like that, but picturing one helps me remember that he wants to love me in and through the pressures and chaos in which I find myself. 

Friday morning I was there. My request? Lord, if you don’t help me make it through this day, I won’t be able to.

            Did God really say, “Just what I’ve been waiting for?” I don’t know, but I do know that when I’m at the end of myself, he’s at the beginning of making good things happen. He sent some encouraging and uplifting things into that day. He gave me restorative sleep that night.  In so doing, he “rocked” me in his love.

            How wonderful that God knows our limits, even when we don’t.  Jesus asks if we want loving when he said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28, NIV) I don’t like rocking chair days very much, but I love crawling up into God’s lap to rest. I hope you do, too.

Join me next Monday for more Faithful Thoughts.