Rest for Berthas Everywhere

"Is there somewhere around here I can sleep?" the hunched-over elderly lady muttered grumpily. On this particular evening, the retirement home wasn't very well-staffed, and I couldn't find anyone to help her.

I'll give you one guess who ended up walking around the building with this lady, trying to figure out what her name was and find her room so that she could go to sleep.

Bertha got angry with me for touching her on the shoulder, (thankfully she didn't realize it was me- she just said, "Who's touching me?!") and, finally, someone on staff came along and offered to take her to her room.

"She'll just leave again," the worker mumbled rather cynically.

I didn't realize this at the time, but Bertha never stops. She walks down the halls and pauses for a moment to mutter something nonsensical, such as, "Well, I don't know where my husband is!" before walking again. Apparently she doesn't stay in her room for long. Ever.

I pitied her today as I visited this facility again and watched her restless body stumbling down the hall. She paused for a moment while I finished "In the Garden."

"That was beautiful," she whispered.

Then she walked again.

Without any specific words coming to mind, I started to get the feeling that Jesus wanted to show me something through Bertha. As I finished playing for the evening, pictures of little old Lauren on her knees started flashing through my mind- "Sure, I'll trust you, Jesus!" "God, I surrender everything to you." "I will do anything for you, Jesus!" "Thank you for your peace, God! Don't let me forget it."

Sure, I've told Him over and over that I accept His peace. And I really do rest in it.

But for how long?

What good would it do to climb in bed at night and close your eyes only to climb right back out five minutes later?

What good does it do to rest in the love, healing power, joy, peace and provision of Jesus only to start worrying again after five minutes of accepting it? Because that's what I usually do.

"Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God. He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them— He remains faithful forever." Psalm 146:5-6 

Now it's up to us.