"Bear" With Me

And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone. Matthew 14:23

This weekend we traveled to Cades Cove in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park for a well deserved rest and a few bear hunts. The last couple of weeks I've had parent conferences, a great math workshop, a testing report to finish entering and grades to enter as well as teach 41 four year olds, all before Thursday, because we had a three day weekend at the end of the grading period. Exhausted is not the word for it. 

Jesus faced lots of work and pressure, just as we do. When he needed to rest and pray and relax, he went into a mountain apart. Yes, He is God and yet fully man. His body needed the rest and He needed to spend time with the Father.

Our camping trip gave me time to hike, rest, pray, reflect, and prepare, spending time with my husband and grandson and a friend. Though my time in the mountains was busy, it was a different kind of busy, a constant prayerful busy. When we returned home, I didn't feel tired. I felt refreshed.  When is the last time you spent a few days away from the rat race and in touch with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? There's no better place than to go into the mountain apart. 

Hey Kids:

Are you sometimes overwhelmed with all the pressures of school and sports and other activities? 

Do you have a special quiet place you can go to relax and read and pray, away from all the technology and distractions of our time?

As a child, my pastor had a favorite rock, where he would go to get away from the distractions.

My mom would hide out in the leaves of a giant tree where no one could find her. 

My spot is my garden when I can't get away to the mountains, but there's nothing like hiking in the cool fall air amidst the changing of the colors, the ridges wrapping me up like a blanket as the sunsets on a quiet day. 

Quiet blessings, 

Gail