3...2....1.... zzzzzz......

"the Sabbath of rest"

Exodus 31:15

I took a nap today.  A really, really good nap.  Cozy and rewarding and rejuvenating... just as a nap should be.

We were all up very early today for my daughter's volleyball tournament.  This wasn't as far away as some of these tournaments are ~ at least we were still in our county ~ but her call time was still early.

After her first match, we had two hours off.  The girls were scheduled for their off hour, and then their ref hour, so the Apple of my Eye, my Amazing Boy and I went back to our car.  We bring things to read, and snacks, and sometimes a pillow and a blanket for napping. 

I didn't nap, however.  I know from experience that napping in the car isn't going to help me that much.  I just can't get that comfortable in the car, and so it's going to be a fitful rest.  And then I'm gonna need to nap when I get home anyway. 

So instead, I forced myself to work.  I had some reading I needed to do, and some computer work, so I dutifully accomplished some things while the boy rested and my man did some vacation planning for us.

After the tournament was over, we drove home and emptied the car.  I saw to my girl ("Are you hungry? ...  Do you want me to get you anything? ... Do you want to watch something on TV? ... Or do you just want to rest in here? ...")  And then when I made sure she was a settled in, then...

Ohh... blissful nap...  In my lazboy, with my favorite blanket over me (it was wonderfully cool and cloudy all day today) with my little comfy napping pillow.

{I'm making it sound like I have a regular napping routine.  

I wish.  

I just have a little pillow at the ready, for anytime it happens.}

It was a short but deep and restful sleep.  And when I woke up, I was ready to make the rest of my day productive. 

And I was reminded once again that something good is better when it's preceded by something bad.  Well, that's poorly put.  What I mean is, my nap was so rewarding because I needed it.  I don't want to say "I earned it"; that's not quite right.  But a nap when you're not that tired is simply not as gratifying as one when you're exhausted.

Which reminds me of God's plan for the Sabbath.  Rest.  Earned rest.  "Six days shall you labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath." (Exodus 20:9-10)

Those six days can be exhausting.  But the seventh... that day of rest... will be fulfilling, refreshing, and downright edifying.

~ "Work shall be done for six days,

  but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest,

   holy to the Lord." ~

Exodus 31:15

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