Interludes of Rest

"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God." / Hebrews 4:9

This was the verse that greeted me early this morning on my second to last day of my trip to Tucson. I have been away from home a week and a half on my trip to care for my sister Amy in the hospital and then to help her with her grandkids' care while she regains strength. She seems fully up and powered now, while frankly, I am pretty tired. Caring for young kids is not for the faint of heart...or anyone over 30. And on top of all her medical and childcare issues, she is moving in to her new house near her grandkids this coming week. She and I have been traipsing back and forth from her daughter's house where we are staying, to the new house, which we are cleaning and slowly filling with her things. Needless to say, it has been a busy time in Tucson.

Last night, while my remarkable nephew in law, Richard, made one of the most heavenliest meals this side of...heaven...Amy and I sat in her dark house waiting for the internet man to finish installing her internet. It was taking much longer than expected. Few lights work in Amy's new house, so we sat in the semi-dark, making a to-do list and growing hungrier and hungrier as the installation took longer and longer than expected. We asked him several times, "How much longer?", as we drooled thinking of the crab stuffed pork chops waiting at home for us.

He never gave us very direct answers, but kept working as the sun set on our hunger and fatigue of the full day. Amy owns 5 acres in a secluded piece of Nirvana in the Sonora desert south of Tucson. There are no streetlights, few residents, and only dirt roads for miles.
"Show me your land," I told her, as the internet man worked on.
We walked just a few feet up the road aligning her property and the sky was filled with stars. A coyote howled in the distance. The lights of Tucson in the valley an hour away glittered like Christmas. A bird with a wondrous song serenaded us in the utter quiet.

I am tired, but I would have done it all over again gladly. What beautiful peace in this lovely land, and what a joy to have been with my sister in her struggles and now this exciting new life before her. I am looking forward to returning to my own land, my own family, my own bed, my own teenager who doesn't need diaper changes or me to make her a bottle twenty times a day...but I know I will miss it here. I like to think God used me here to the last ounce of my energy. Ultimately, like the verse says, He will grant me rest. The verse from Hebrews pertains to eternal rest, but He grants us periods of spiritual rest along the way. As I stood on the peaceful knoll under the starts in the silent desert night beside my sister restored to health, God was granting me rest. I am grateful for those interludes. As we returned to the house, the internet man was testing his finished hours of work.

"Bad news," said the internet man, "You are not getting a signal. I will have to come back."

Interlude of peace over. Eternal rest is not looking so bad.....

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 Psalm 38: 9, 21-22
9 O Lord, all my longing is before you;
my sighing is not hidden from you.
21 Do not forsake me, O Lord!
O my God, be not far from me!
22 Make haste to help me,
O Lord, my salvation!