We all go through it. Times of being just plain tired. Sometimes it is because we are living without margin in our lives. Sometimes we are being called upon for great outpouring of service. Sometimes we are ill.

We all have times of exhaustion when everything around us is demanding more of us.

Take time to recharge when you feel tired.

Often this is hard for us to do. We might have young children who are in constant need of our attention. Raising young ones is very demanding and requires more stamina than we expect. Sleepless nights, tired days, always more housework to do and maybe even homeschooling eventually take their toll.

Perhaps we are on the other side of things. Caring for aging or infirm parents along with walking through the teenage years. Always second guessing our choices or how we handled our children’s struggles. Feeling like we are failing at every turn. These thoughts and emotions in themselves are exhausting.

Maybe we have adult children who are not financially able to handle life on their own yet. Or we are hit with surges of hormones not unlike pregnancy that make us feel like we are losing our minds. Those lovely *personal summer nights* are exhausting in themselves, leaving us with insomnia that goes on for weeks.

How can you recharge with so many demands?

Work with your spouse or a friend and arrange time alone. Really alone. Time to sit and bask in the quietness of the Lord’s presence.

Jesus needed it. How much more do we?

We feel guilty when we take that time alone. We feel like it’s a luxury to take time for ourselves. Remember how the flight attendants always tell us to put on our own mask first and then help those next to us who need help? It’s because they know that if we don’t deal with our own safety first, we will not survive long enough to help anyone else.

We need to take time to put on our breathing masks, so to speak. Taking that time to breathe, to rest, to refresh and to rejuvenate is essential. Not just to our own well being, but to the well being of our whole family.

I’m taking time to deal with weariness.

In 2 weeks I am doing just this. I’m going on holiday with my sisters, my daughters and my nieces. I am going to bask in the sun and the sea and to bathe in the Word. I am going to drink deeply of the presence of the Lord. I am not going to make One.Single.Decision. No one to call my name, to ask advice, to ask what’s for supper. Just fun and the sea.

As I prepare for our penultimate (don’t you love that word 😀 – it means next to the last) homeschool year, I need to breathe refreshment. I feel drained of anything to give anyone. I need the Lord to breathe the breath of life into my nostrils once more. I need to feel the Spirit filling me with life and power and peace and joy.

If you need time to recharge, please do it. It may not be a beach vacation (it’s taken me 60 years to be able to do this), but it might be:

• an evening off with girlfriends
• or an afternoon in the park
• or a night away at a hotel alone
• or a long soak in a bubble bath
• or an uninterrupted nap

Whatever you can do to refresh, take that time so you can step back into the calling God has for you today.

I will be taking a blogging break (unless the Lord gives me something I just have to say) until the beginning of September. Blessings to you this August. I am praying today for rest and renewal.