So, I bet you can guess how I am feeling today, especially since the title of this post sort of gives it away.... yep, I AM TIRED! I guess it has just been a very busy couple of weeks and tonight I feel like it is catching up to me. I have had a couple of very challenging days at work, but this feels like more than just the last couple of days. This is several weeks of being on the go. Coupled with two intense conferences and a new job. I had really hoped that my new job would be less stressful and more restful, but so far that has not been the case. But I am just giving it some time. However, tonight my body is just saying ENOUGH! So I made my way to my bed at 6:30pm. While I haven't been asleep, I have been resting. The good news is that I don't work until 10:30 tomorrow morning. So I plan to have a lazy morning without rushing.
At my new job, all of the kids rest from 12:30 to 3:00. Now you would think that if all the kids were sleeping this would be a piece of cake! But the truth of the situation is that not every kid goes to sleep and when they don't, it is very difficult. Let me tell you that one screaming kid can wake a room full of sleeping friends. And it is the policy of the center that all children remain on their cots during this rest time. So, you can not hold a screaming child to quiet them down. The option is to sit on the floor and pat or rub a back and hope that the child calms down and goes to sleep. They firmly believe that all children can be trained to sleep. What is already obvious to me, is that some children sleep and some don't. And all that has been trained is the workers who follow the rules and hold kids down on cots. In every room there is at least 1 or 2 children who never go to sleep. So this "rest time" is not restful for the workers. Additionally, all of the paperwork and planning and preparing happens during this time, as well as lunch breaks for the workers. Makes you rethink "rest"time, doesn't it?
Today, to just add a little extra excitement to the day, a 23 month old child managed to pull the fire alarm - just as the children were getting ready to eat lunch. And it was cold and rainy. I had a momentary feeling of panic since I was not trained on the procedure for fire alarms. I did the obvious thing. Got the kids out of the building. So we were outside for about 20 minutes, in the cold with kids who were hungry and tired. After about 10 minutes, someone was able to get the coats for the kids. However, they did not get the teachers coats! That might be why I am still feeling chilled tonight.
As I have been praying and keeping my eyes and ears on Jesus, there has been a couple of things that have become more clear to me. First - sometimes you just need to stop.
At the conference (okay, here I go again) a speaker said "When God pushes the pause button, you need to pause!" So that is why I am in bed tonight. Jesus made it clear to me that I need to rest. He knows what I need! I was thinking about those kids that never sleep during rest time. I don't want to do that. So, I will be resting tonight and taking advantage of extra sleep tomorrow morning. Second - the fire alarm. There are some things going on in my life right now and I have been hearing the sound of alarms. Over the next couple of days I will be seeking additional revelation about these warnings. I want to make sure that I am doing the right thing, even if the exact "procedure" is not clear to me right now.
Jesus, thank you for the reminder that I need to rest. I need to rest to recuperate from the last few weeks, but more than that, I need to rest to know how to handle the alarms I am hearing. Thank you Holy Spirit for speaking to me and reminding me that you care for me and about my life. Would you help others who might be feeling under the weather to PAUSE and rest? And Jesus, help us to keep our eyes and ears on you and the amazing things you are speaking to us and showing us. Amen
