My grandma was an amazing lady. I spent a week with her
several summers in a row, and it was always a learning experience. She was born
and raised in what she called the “hillbilly holler” of southern Missouri. I
don’t know a lot about her childhood, but I’m pretty sure she grew up without
much in the way of material things, and I got the impression that her life was
pretty difficult. She thought nothing of wringing a chicken’s neck or skinning
a squirrel (yes, we ate squirrel), and she worked very hard in her garden, and
at canning its produce. The coolest thing about my grandma was that she could
cut a wasp in half with her sewing scissors, mid-flight! I’m not kidding, I saw
her do it more than once.
Grandma was tough. I always admired her strength and
endurance, but every now and then, she would sit down beside me on the porch
swing and say, “Suzy, I am bone weary.” I didn’t really understand what she
meant back then, being nine or ten years old and unfamiliar with such
weariness. But, as this life goes on, I hear her voice in my head pretty often,
as I now understand what it means to be bone weary. Do you?
We who suffer with chronic pain know at least as well as
anyone else what weariness is. Sometimes, we begin the day already weary, from
a night of tossing and turning, trying to ease aching joints or the pain of
disease. Being weary is different from being tired, though. Sometimes, being
tired can mean a day well spent doing the work of life, having a sense of
productivity or accomplishment. Weariness, though, has an element of emotion.
Weariness is more than tired. It is tired and drained. Tired and worn. Tired
and weak. Weariness is spiritual.
There is a beautiful song that I often sing to myself,
called Hide Away in the Love of
Jesus. Here are a few of the words:
Come, weary saints,
though tired and weak
Hide away in the love
of Jesus
Your strength will
return by His quiet streams
Hide away in the love
of Jesus
I love these lyrics! Weary saints don’t get their strength
back by sleep or physical rest alone, as much as we do just by being near to
Him. While sleep is good and necessary for those who are tired, weary ones need
those quiet streams: To get off alone with the Lord, to hide away in His love.
Come, wandering
souls, and find your home
Hide away in the love
of Jesus
He offers the rest
that you yearn to know
Hide away in the love
of Jesus
Like it or not, we are prone to wander. When pain is intense
and the pressures of life threaten to overwhelm us, we may be tempted to drift
from the Lord, disappointed in what seems to be unanswered prayers for relief.
This beautiful lyric invites us to return to the Lord, finding our home once
again in Him. He knows our yearning for rest, and He wants to satisfy it with
His love.
Hear Him calling your
name
See the depths of His
love
In the wounds of His
grace
Hide away
Just as He called you at the moment of your salvation, He is
calling you now in your weariness, dear reader. He loves you with an
everlasting love, and He calls you His own. Just as my dear grandmother used to
call me back home when I had wandered too far down her gravel road, our Lord
calls us back to His side, and reminds us once again of the depth of His love,
and of the price He paid for our weary soul. So come, hide away in His love,
and rest. Your weariness will be turned to worship, and your wandering to rest.
Hallelujah! What a Renewer! What a Savior!
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