The candle on my counter-top has become my reminder.
I scoot aside breakfast bowls, school supplies and mail waiting for stamps to light this little flame that says aroma will rise in this place. Aroma can rise in this place.
Rest is available now. In this moment. In this Man.
And that which may have been set to derail me — his bloody nose and its clean-up that has set our schedule off, the unintended wounding of words spoken casually, my growing to-do list — becomes our meeting spot.
Adoration heals my core.
Re-wiring my thinking to — first — come from His source creates an aroma which overshadows everything else.
I scan the counter-top, ignoring reminders of the never-ending to-do list of a mama of four, and inhale the scent of that candle. It’s gonna be a good day.
Adoration allows every day to be won.
(Each Monday, the column of 
adoration to the right-side of my blog moves front-and-center, here, and I invite others who are doing the same — stretching their heart to lift God’s Word up and back to Him, despite every obstacle the day presents — to add their link below in the comments section. You can link people back here from your post by grabbing the code on the right side of my blog. If you don’t have a blog but are, yourself, a lover of words and of God and of God’s word, feel free to add an adoration of your own in the comment section. Whether there is one of us or one hundred — and even if the words are written “merely” on our hearts — we will give Him the praise He’s due.)
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Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30**
You call me. Up out of me and into You, You say “come.”
Your one phrase says it all. In coming to You, I leave me and put on all that is You. Where else can I find this arrangement?
You are light; You give rest. Oh, God, You are so counter to this world, and You hold out all that is within You with an open hand.
How can this be?
How can I not see this kind of displacement — all of You, covering over all of me — and not be changed?
I get a trade-in, at no expense. What kind of economy is this?
Where I am rough around the edges, striving in my flesh, and brash, You are gentle and lowly in heart. You are what my soul needs. You are what my soul craves. And You, in Your mercy, seek to remove all the props of my life so that I might find holy food for my hunger.
Where I am prone to treating symptoms, You meet the pain at its source. You heal my core with Your rest. I was made for Your rest.
Yes, even in this chaotic season You give rest. Yes, even with my life’s challenges You give rest. Yes, even with this calling to these children You give rest.
You give rest because You *are* rest and You give me Yourself. I respond to Your call to “come” and I fold myself into You and I find that for which my soul longs. I stand beside You, weak, and walk along, light-footed. Even now. Especially now.
This moment was made for You. It was made for me, in You. For You, overshadowing me and me finding deep soul-rest in You.
**For a context to this little space on my blog, read: Why I Adore. You can easily subscribe to these devotional meditations as they are delivered, by using this feed: http://www.EveryBitterThingisSweet.com/posts/chai/feed or by entering your email address in the second box on the right-hand side… (scroll up a bit).
