Ants
She had been grading tests all day. By the time she was ready for sleep that night she was tired of reading about ants. Trying to still her exhausted mind she finally managed to quiet her thoughts by counting sheep--ants--no sheep that scurried about. Finally sleep came.
He came into the room, watching his mom. She was so restless in her sleep--tossing and turning. Leaping on silent paws to the bed he walked along the edges bedside his sleeping parents to the pillows. Walking across them with a feather-light step, he paused to rub his chin against mom's head before stepping onto her shoulder and walking down her side to find a comfortable place on her hip to curl up and comfort her. Often, the warmth of his body resting on her would help soothe her into a deeper sleep.
Finally, stretching out along her hip, he felt her relax. It pleased him to share this time with his mother and his tail couldn't help but twitch slightly in his contentment--brushing her arm slightly with its small movements in the process.
"Ants," she said in her sleep as his tail softly brushed her arm, "ANTS!" she yelled as she startled awake. She sat up in her sleep, "ANTS!"
"Honey, you're dreaming--go back to sleep" said his father to her. As she settled back against her pillow he settled onto her hip again, purring to lull her back to sleep. She relaxed again as his warm body soothed and calmed her once more.
Many hours later, she woke to find the sleeping cat resting on her. Stroking his soft fur, she whispered words of love to him. "You know Pill, I could have sworn I had ants walking over me during the night. Then I realized it was just your tail brushing my shoulder. Silly boy--you startled me, but then you soothed me and the way to help my kids understand the ant farm experiment just popped into my head. You were just what I needed." Holding him in her arms, she caressed him as she rose and left the room.
That is often how God works in our life. We worry about a problem . . . how to "fix" a situation . . . stressing over what to do. We carry our worries along with us in the back of our minds--restlessly going over them again and again. God quietly soothes and calms us--helps us to relax into God's rest and quietly whispers to our minds the thoughts that had escaped us in our busy scurrying about.
As we block out the busyness of the world and its distractions we find the peace of God restored in our lives. Those are the moments we can hear the quiet voice of God speaking to us . . . reassuring us of God's love and presence in our lives . . . always with us along the paths of our lives.
Quieting God, we are so often deaf to you with our thoughts--our worries--our ideas so consuming us that we don't hear your quiet, loving voice. Forgive us when your words startle us because we have not been listening to you. Thank you for calming us, wrapping us in your love, helping us to still all the voices in our mind, so that we can hear you. Guide us all our days. So be it. Amen.
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