Weary

I lay on my son’s bed, his little head on his pillow, his little hand clasping my bicep. His fresh from a bath scent filled the air. A more peaceful and idyllic scene you’d be hard pressed to imagine.

Except … I was weary.

Not sleepy.

Weary.

I lay there, berating myself for wanting to run from the room. For wanting just a few minutes for myself. For not appreciating the gift snuggled up to me. 

Then these words popped into my head.

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. (Isaiah 40:28 - ESV)

He does not grow weary?

I’ve heard this verse a hundred times. Apparently, I have it memorized. (Thanks to AWANA, years of Christian school and a mom who had no reason to believe her 18-month-old couldn’t memorize Scripture). 

But I’ve never thought about it this way. I’ve always thought about it in terms of physical fatigue or of sleep.

We teach our kids that God never sleeps. That He’s always on the job. That He’s always in control. All true. All good.

Tonight, I’m wondering if we should also teach them that unlike their frail, earthly parents, their Heavenly Father never grows weary.

He never pulls away.

He never shrugs us off.

He never rolls His eyes.

He never huffs.

He never holds us in His arms while secretly wishing He could go have a bowl of ice cream and watch a rerun of Doctor Who.

He never grows weary.

He is always there. Not just spiritually present, but emotionally and mentally engaged.

He always wants us around.

Always.

Thank about that! Can you honestly say there is anyone - even one person - that you ALWAYS want around? 

God wants you that much. Always. All the time. 

So much so that He sent His only Son to come. To be Emmanuel. God with us. To make a way for us to be with Him.

Always.

Even though we run from Him, ignore Him, and in some cases, flat-out despise Him, He never grows weary. He loves us with a love that cannot be explained and can barely be imagined. 

As Sally Lloyd-Jones puts it in The Jesus Storybook Bible, He loves us with a 

Never Stopping

Never Ending

Never Giving Up,

Unbreaking,

Always and Forever Love.

I don’t know about you, but being loved like that?

That’s rest for a weary soul.

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Messed up, Broken, Crazy, Family

I love this time year. LOVE.IT.

As a kid, it was all about the presents. OK. It still is, a little.

But as an adult, I’ve come to appreciate the weeks leading up to Christmas. The time that is commonly referred to as Advent.

Last year, I made Jesse Tree ornaments and placed them on a wreath (you can read about that fiasco here!) and each night in December, we talked about the story behind each ornament. We are way behind on that this year, but I still like the Jesse Tree concept because it focuses on the way the entire Old Testament leads up to the birth of Christ. How we see prophecy given and then fulfilled in Jesus. I love how it’s teaching my kids how we fit into God’s redemptive plan.

But this year, I’ve been struck by the importance of family.

Messed up. Broken. Crazy. Family.

Have you ever paid attention to the fact that in both Matthew and Luke—the two Gospels that give us the Nativity story—we get the family legacy first.

In Luke, we start with the off-beat cousin, John the Baptist. No matter how you slice it, that guy was out there. He ate bugs. ‘Nuff said.

In Matthew, we get the whole gang. From Abraham to Joseph. If you know anything about the Old Testament, the names that pop up in this genealogy are not exactly a Who’s Who of Who Got It Right. We’ve got moon-worshipers, liars, thieves, adulterers, and murderers for dads along with foreigners, adulterers, and prostitutes for mothers.

Have you ever heard the saying that “you can choose your friends but you can’t choose your family?” That’s usually true, but guess what?

God could. 

He could have chosen anyone and he chose people who had screwed up—BIG TIME—to carry the promise into the world.

A messed up, broken, crazy family. He claimed them. All of them.

And then He did something truly extraordinary. He claimed the entire naughty list and said, “I want you. I love you. I died for you. Come to Me. Join my family.”

No matter what condition your earthly family is in, you have access to a family like no other. A family full of misfit toys made acceptable though Christ. A place where the broken, banged up, and forgotten become the whole, cleaned up, and beloved.

Not because of anything we have done, but because, a long time ago, a baby was born into a messed up, broken, crazy family.

His name is Jesus.

Matthew 1:21 ~ She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. (ESV)

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