I don't know
about you, but summer is my busiest time of year. When April hits, I get so
excited for summer break. I think "I'll get my kids full time and our
schedules will be more flexible. This is going to be awesome!!!"
It's like I
have summer memory loss and I forget from year to year how busy we get. Summer
hits and I find myself on the go more than I was before summer started. Work
always picks up in the summer and it seems like I'm running from activity to
activity, from appointment to appointment.
When life
gets busy, I put myself on the backburner. I continue to volunteer for
everything and say "yes" to everyone. I'm the Martha of Mary and
Martha (that's a whole other blog post).
I've been
"busy" for over 3 months now, and it's been even worse since school
ended. Bible study also ends when school ends, so I find myself not taking time
to dive into scripture as much as I did during the school year.
I'm not in
the best health either. I'm not sleeping well, I'm tired, and eating like crap.
I am so busy that I'm not taking care of myself, which got me thinking about
Jesus and how he took time to care for himself. Here are two instances I was
reminded of:
Luke 5:15-16
(NIV) tells us about Jesus and what he did for himself:
15 Yet the news about him spread all
the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their
sicknesses. 16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
Jesus took
time for himself to withdraw and pray. This is time he could have been
preaching, teaching his disciples, or healing. Yet Jesus knew how important
taking time for himself was.
Another
example is in Mark 3:7-12:
7-10 Jesus went off with his
disciples to the sea to get away. But a huge crowd from Galilee trailed after
them—also from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, across the Jordan, and around Tyre and
Sidon—swarms of people who had heard the reports and had come to see for
themselves. He told his disciples to get a boat ready so he wouldn’t be
trampled by the crowd. He had healed many people, and now everyone who had
something wrong was pushing and shoving to get near and touch him.
11-12 Evil spirits, when they
recognized him, fell down and cried out, “You are the Son of God!” But Jesus
would have none of it. He shut them up, forbidding them to identify him in
public.
Here it is
very apparent. A crowd of people was gathering as Jesus was heading off to
"get away." It said this crowd had people with things wrong with
them. Jesus saw them and knew that, and yet still withdrew. He didn't finish
healing and then go. He left immediately. He knew he had to take care of
himself.
Another
thing that comes to mind goes back to my last post about God's greatest
commandment. I wrote last month that when Jesus was asked what the greatest
commandments were he replied love God and love your neighbor.
Matthew
22:37-39 (NIV)
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord
your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a]
38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it:
‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Here's the
thing that strikes me. Jesus says
"love your neighbor AS yourself." Jesus wants us to love ourselves
too. The phrase "as yourself" implies that we are to love ourselves! He wants us to take care of ourselves so we
can be good for God and others. If I'm not taking care of myself, how can I be
fit to take care and fulfill the needs of others?
So ladies,
today, please take some time for yourselves. Take care of yourself- mentally,
physically, and spiritually. Get away, pray, have quiet time, read your bible,
exercise, eat a healthy meal. I'm going to make myself more of a priority, so I
can be good for others. Jesus did it, and so should we.
-Andi
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