About Rest and Me and Others I Know...

It dawned on me that some readers of yesterday's post might not understand my need to nap. I have an odd daily schedule for 5 days a week. I share a mobile home with a middle-aged nephew who drives a cab. His shift is middle-of-the-night (2 a.m.) to middle-of-the-day (2 p.m.), give or take an hour either way. That means we go to bed, hopefully, by 8 or 9 p.m., are up about 1 or 1:30 a.m., he eats breakfast, and we get him to work. I'm then driving home at 3 a.m. (we only have one vehicle) and climbing onto the recliner for another 2-1/2 hrs sleep, until the house-kitty wakes me at 5:30 a.m. At that point, I'm up. That gives me 6-6-1/2 hrs sleep, if I'm lucky.

Still, my stress level is not as bad as it is for some folks I know. I am blessed.

One friend is in her 40s and raising her disabled daughter's 2 children, one in school and the other at a very active kindergarten-age. She's had several major medical issues, too, and some nights, she is dog-tired when she finally gets those kids in bed.

I have another friend who, along with her husband, are in their mid-to-late 60s. Both have major health issues. Her sister lives nearby and the family is increasingly aware that the sister can no longer live alone but she refuses to admit and accept it. This gal, who thought the sister was going to settle with a family member, is now facing the possibility of readying a room in their little mobile home and taking the sister in for a few months. This will be hard on both my friend and her husband, who each have their own medical worries, and not light worries, either.

Yet another friend is a nun, my age (70-ish) who just had her leg amputated for medical reasons, at the knee and is waiting for the wound to heal so she can begin adjusting to a prosthesis. At that point, she will return to her position as a school principle.

These folks have a much more difficult life and much more difficult circumstances than I suffer right now. I am very grateful that my life is not worse. For these folks that I know, all I can do is send up prayers, but I do that with heartfelt sincerity.

Dear God, thank you for your grace which enables me to see where others have it worse than I do, and thank you for the grace which enables me to pray for all the help and mercy you can send their way.