When Do We Get Our Nap?

Pocket Full of Quarters Journey 2015
Shiloh’s Shenanigans - When Do We Get Our Nap

Written In Banning, California
By Shiloh The Shepherd’s Sheep Dog
Mommy - Cheryle M. Touchton

Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:22

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Matthew 11:30

My mommy wears people and animals out, including me. People like Mommy to visit but they are usually headed down for a nap as soon as we walk out the door. Even the children and dogs nap when we leave. While they are napping, we are moving to our next place. What I want to know is, when do we get our nap?

Mommy says she has what she calls "the spiritual gift of energy." She pays attention everywhere. No matter how tired we are, if she recognizes what she calls a Divine Appointment, she keeps it. Sometimes they last until the middle of the night. As near as I can tell, these appointments are everywhere - in people's homes, Star Bucks, bathrooms, parks, churches, and stores. It can be 100 degrees outside and Mommy will stand out with no hat and talk for as long as necessary. She'll even let her food get cold. No matter how hard I whine or pull, she finishes. When do we get our nap?

When we go evangelizing with a group for the first time, Mommy limits the time to an hour and a half. She says the emotions of giving the Gospel and watching people meet Jesus wears people out the first time they do it. She likens it to Moses not being able to look directly into God's face or taking your shoes off on Holy Ground. After we evangelize, she sends people home for a nap but she's off to her next assignment. If she takes a nap, it means she is sick. When do we get our nap?

Mommy blogs most nights. She also answers and writes emails, texts, and checks out Facebook and Twitter. I have a twitter account and a blog but I'm usually too tired to write. I must not have the spiritual gift of energy. Mommy says I don't have it yet. Mommy works until way into the night and doesn't walk me until she finishes. Doesn't she know I can't go to bed until after she walks me and goes to bed? When do we get our nap?

Mommy woke up this morning at 5:00 AM after working until after midnight the night before. She tried to go back to sleep but it didn't work. So, she turned on her computer and went to work. I heard her tell Daddy that if she got tired, she'd pull over and take a nap. Ha! I'll say it again. When do we get our nap?

Tonight, she told Daddy that she was tired and was going straight to bed. I was hopeful until she opened up the computer. Mommy! Please! When do we get our nap?

Mommy says I could nap while she is driving or working but she doesn't understand. I have to watch and protect her. If she would take a nap, I could too. Wait...maybe I understand. I want a nap but I don't take one because I have to do my job and watch mommy. Maybe that is how it is with Mommy. She has to do her job.

Mommy says it is more exhausting to say no to God than it is to follow Him into the wee hours of the night. She suspects that many people who say they are tired all the time are ignoring God about something. She says she has tried it both ways and when she says no to God because she thinks she is too "tired," she gets even more tired. When she says yes to God, she gets more of that spiritual gift of energy. No matter how tired she is, when God sends an assignment and she takes a deep breath and does it, when she finishes, she isn't tired any more.

Mommy says that God invites people who are tired to come to Him. She says His burden is always the lightest and His yoke the easiest. Maybe that is what the spiritual gift of energy is - accepting God's light burdens and easy yoke. Maybe even a nap is a heavy burden that wears you out if God has told you to do something else. Mommy says God will give us rest but sometimes that rest is accepting the burdens that might seem hard and trusting that if those burden are from God, they will be lighter when we accept His yoke and rest in Him.

Before you get too worried about Mommy, she knows that she also needs physical rest and that she needs to take a Sabbath. It's just that she has two speeds - fast and off. She does take a day off a week. The rest of the time, she goes until she hits what she calls a "wall" and then she just stops - for an hour, a day, and occasionally a week. After a long journey, sometimes she stops for a month. I understand what Mommy means when she says God sends all kinds of "rest" but I still like it when His "rest" is a nap.

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