Refreshment

What refreshes you?

I asked myself that question one morning. I'd spent a sleepless night with my new 2-week-old baby and my toddler (who, despite being an excellent sleeper, woke from her big girl bed during the one stretch of time when the baby was asleep).

Quickly, I typed out a short list on my phone.

This is the list:
Do...
 - Take a relaxing bath
 - Read a book
 - Write/Journal or blog
 - Go for a walk or exercise
 - Take a shower
 - Take a nap

I told myself that if I could prioritize ONE of these things each day I'd feel refreshed.

I also made a list of things to avoid. I included things that sap my energy or waste time. That list looks like this:
Don't...
 - Waste time perusing social media
 - Stay up late
 - Eat junk

Looking more objectively at my "DO" list it basically screams "I need time ALONE!" I think I've always been a bit introverted and this has become more pronounced since I became a mother. I recharge when I'm alone, whereas my husband draws energy from social settings. Opposites do attract!

Some days I don't get any time to myself. I'm learning that I need to seek refreshment a different way.

I need to seek refreshment from the Word of God.

"The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple." Psalm 19:7

"...he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name's sake." Psalm 23:3

I need to acknowledge that I don't always take a Sabbath rest, and change that habit.

"Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the slave born in your household and the foreigner living among you may be refreshed." Ex. 23:12 

"It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed." Ex. 31:17

I need to keep a healthy diet to nourish & refresh my body.

"Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.” “Very well,” they answered, “do as you say." Gen. 18:5

Resting under a tree sounds nice, too :) Read Genesis 18...

I need to confess sin to be spiritually refreshed.

"Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord," Acts 3:19

I need to be generous and refresh others.

"A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed." Prov. 11:25

Bible, coffee, porch-sitting in the rain

I hope this post offered some refreshment for you, or at least, pointed to some scriptures to encourage you! Now I have to ask: What refreshes you?