peace be still…

Yesterday morning was a morning like no other.  You can count on the truth of it because it took me all these twenty-four hours to write about it.  My children were being children… and I, well, I didn’t handle it too well at all. I can assure you that I will not be nominated for Mother of the year this year…

It has been so hot in our part of the country the past few weeks that we haven’t been playing outside too much.  And so, I find the days passing by more and more slowly as we are trapped inside with no place to blow off steam.  This is how we began yesterday morning on week two, day two of school :  A lot of unbridled energy penned up.  A mama with not enough sleep. These two factors added up to catastrophe.

At 9:00 we had finished breakfast and I was trying to get everyone started on their work at the table. 9:30 rolled by and my front room looked like a tornado had hit – toys everywhere, children running around, hollering and laughing. By 10 AM, I realized that I was not going to be able to coax everyone to sit down calmly for our grammar time.  And by 10:30 I had yelled at everyone sufficiently to cause tears and heart ache for each child.  It was not one of my finer moments.

I tried to regroup by putting on a favorite Bible Story DVD and caught a few minutes alone with the Lord.  Quietly I began to catch my breath.  I asked Him, “Is there no peace for our house today?  I can’t make it through this whirl-wind of a storm all day!  HELP!”  And as I sent out my SOS, He brought help for my soul almost immediately, in the form of this story from Matthew 8 in Scripture:

²³ Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. ²⁴ And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. ²⁵ Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”
²⁶ But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. ²⁷ So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

And I realized, if the wind and waves will obey Him, this little bit of “bad weather” at my house is nothing for Him to subdue.  I promise you, as I prayed and thanked Him for His peace in my home, the waves settled in my own heart.  Within minutes everyone else seemed to be able to relax too…

Heavenly Father, Thank you for Your presence, Your peace and for Your deliverance.  Remind me when unexpected storms pop up that You are here with me, and that You are the master of every storm.   amen.

I’m reminded of an old hymn this morning:

Far away in the depths of my spirit tonight
Rolls a melody sweeter than psalm
In celestial like strains it unceasingly falls
O'er my soul like an infinite calm

Peace, peace, wonderful peace
Coming down from the Father above!
Sweep over my spirit forever, I pray
In fathomless billows of love!

 
Two of my precious little monkeys!