Quiet You With My Love

Come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest.  Come to  me all who are weary and I will give you rest.  Lay your head down on my shoulder.  Be still my child.  Rest awhile.
And I’ll quiet you with my love; rejoice over you with my song, with my song. Quiet you with my love; rejoice over you with my song, with my song.
Come to me all who are weary and take my yoke upon you. Come to me all who are weary; my burden is easy and light. Lay your head down on my shoulders. Be still my child. Rest awhile.
~> Our Lord is so tender with us.  His great love for me is unbelievable. 

Give Up Your Rights

As a young girl I often heard my dad say this to my sisters and I.  “give up my rights”?  Shocking, isn’t it!  What are you talking about?  We have inalienable rights that are God-given!  I am an American for goodness sake.  I think my dad does go for the shock value.  Let me explain what I’ve come to learn from that little principle.

A typical scenario would go something like this: One of my sisters takes something of mine – that makes me angry!  Here comes the yelling and fighting.  Or when we go to the restaurant she picked over my choice – hey! that bothers me!  Here comes the pouting!  I ask you, do I have a right to be upset? sure.  Could I call a family meeting to discuss how I’ve been wronged? absolutely. But how much better to give up that right to anger and instead respond in love.  Does it really matter where we eat? Give it up, Becky.  and so on . . .

Present day.  Recently our family has gone through a trial that was completely unfair and downright wrong.  We didn’t ask for it.  We didn’t cause it.  In fact, we were doing all we could to prevent this sort of trial.  Then out of the blue, BAM! we were socked!  Scott said it best when he said it feels like we were hit by a Mack truck, sat up only to get run over by a bus. 

Now comes the reaction.  We have every right to be angry and spiteful (yelling and fighting, maybe even a little pouting).  This is unfair!  That person needs to pay!  These are true statements.  But I’ve watched my husband exercise grace and personify integrity.  What good does anger do?  I recall that verse in Ephesians that talks about putting away all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor and slander and malice. I discovered that we could also read it like this: Let all smoldering resentment, bursts of anger, a choice response to be angry, crying out with a loud voice (yelling), and maligning someone’s character be put away from you, along with all ill-will.  Wow!  Give up my right to seek retribution; give up that desire to make sure all the lies are revealed; give up the urge to fight back.  Instead, the next verse says to be kind to one another; be tender-hearted; be forgiving of each other.

Please don’t misunderstand.  God wants us to do justly, love mercy and to walk humbly with Him.  So just how does one “do” justice in an unfair situation?  By allowing God to be his rear guard.  Let’s face it, Moses is referred to as a meek man.  You can’t lead a nation of people through the wilderness if meekness truly has the connotation we give it today.  The same God who parted the Red Sea while blinding the Egyptian army with a cloud is the One Who guides us now.  We trust in the name of the Lord our God.  He has seen this – He knew even before we did what was about to happen.  He has given Scott great wisdom and self-control.  He has protected us from financial ruin. He is providing a future for us.