What overtired toddlers can teach us about our own resistance to rest
Most parents know when their children are over-tired and heading for a major meltdown. Preschool teachers know the signs too. Giggles and laughter morph into manic cackles. A carrot accidentally touching meat on the dinner plate triggers a temper tantrum of epic proportions.
Kids who are seconds away from falling asleep on their feet race around the house or classroom at breakneck speed, crashing into walls, furniture, siblings, and small pets. The dark circles under a sleep-deprived preschooler’s eyes start to resemble those stylised sad-waif paintings from the 1970s.
And yet, if asked, the sleep-deprived child will stridently proclaim, “I’m not tired! I’m just busy!”
Most toddlers share the same motto: “Rest is for wimps!”
If you find yourself running around with a lack of focus and being pulled in a dozen directions, maybe it’s time to slow down. If you’re feeling increasingly irritated by the seeming lack of appreciation for “all you do for them,” it might also be worth asking what’s driving all that doing.
It’s hard to hear what God is saying when exhaustion clouds our thinking. He sees the big picture, including the things we think absolutely must be done right now.
There might be a reason the Bible contains so many invitations to rest—even though God knew perfectly well He was speaking to adults. Apparently, “I’m not tired! I’m just busy!” isn’t something we necessarily outgrow.
Here are a few of those invitations worth sitting with for a while. If you find yourself nodding off, God won’t be offended.
Psalm 127:1-2 — “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.”
Isaiah 30:15 — “For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, ‘In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.’”
Lamentations 3:24-26 — “The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’ The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”
Until next time,
Kath
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