In our neck of the woods, according to the web site on Worldwide Air Quality we are in the Unhealthy Zone, a hazard shared with Prineville and John Day.  Carla isn’t feeling the effects, at least right now, but I can’t spend much time out there.

She is harvesting some plums and Italian prunes today, not sure if there is enough to can, or just eat.  We will see.  We will be canning peaches, probably tomorrow.

We are getting ash falling, again, but the smaller particulates, from what I understand are particularly dangerous and very difficult to keep out of our lungs.  So, I am staying inside.

I got my daily walk on the treadmill in; my daily devotion and meditation and finally gave up on thinking I might be able to smoke/barbecue ribs outside.

The sell by date is upon us, they were previously frozen so I needed to get them done with little likelihood of working on them outside and contributing to the smoke I am baking them in the oven.

It will work, but I just won’t have the smoky taste and I don’t like the idea of putting liquid smoke on them. 

Birds are not detoured by all this, the gold finches are feeding on the sunflowers and singing away, the hummingbirds are still eating and fighting over the feeders, the quail are still walking around and feeding off seeds and the deer are still visiting Carla’s garden each evening early morning hours.

Blaze is staying inside, he goes out to do his business and look around, but he is satisfied being in the house.  Can’t always tell where all the cats are, one just came from behind a chair another in the bedroom, who knows where the other two are, they come and go as they please.

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Isaiah 4:28-31 KJV ” Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

²⁹ He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

³⁰ Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

³¹ But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

God called His seventh day of creation His day of rest.  Knowing who God is we know that He didn’t kick back in front of the television and say I am tired and I am not going to do anything today – which of course would include answering prayer if we take it to the ludicrous extreme.

He said this for OUR benefit.  We need to rest at least that one day.  Today we may not have the physical work that our forefathers had, they worked day break to sundown.  They worked with hand tools assisted by animals, sometimes, and others, sometimes.  But it was hard work.

The statement that women’s work is never done, is quite true and they not only often worked in the fields next to their husbands and fathers, but then went on to prepare meals, clean house, clean clothes, help their children and the list goes on.

But, just because we don’t do the physical labor that they did – or at least not with the intensity – doesn’t mean we aren’t weary.

Relationships whether be work, friend or family can be hard and require energy we would rather put someplace else.

The stress of getting the job done, particularly when pressures of getting it produced or someone else will take over, can get exhausting. 

I think of the larger cities where people have to commute for hours through difficult traffic to get back and forth to work.  Whether it be by public transport or their vehicles, stress is so common that many don’t even realize how it is affecting them.

Those of us in smaller communities who don’t have to battle the traffic, still have our own stressors as many still have to drive long distances for services or work.

Modern technology hasn’t helped a bit, as a matter of fact it has made it even worse, it is hard to get away from the phone or other people, we take everything with us, even on vacations.  Many have stress if they get away from social media even for a short time.

People send texts or whatever and expect immediate returns, and if you are a sales person relying on commissions, this can be a serious struggle – if you answer it you are letting the call interrupt whatever else you are doing, if you don’t they find someone else.

We NEED that day of rest, but even more we need to take time each day to sit down with God and just allow Him to take those pressures off of us. 

Allow ourselves time to meditate on His Word, to praise and worship Him without asking for something in prayer.  Prayer request ARE important, but just as important is that daily time where we are just are with Him.

We too often become like little kids who keep demanding of their parents, but never sit down with them and thank them for all they have done.  Just sit and listen to what their parents have to say, because they are too busy with their own perceived needs.

God wants us to wait on Him, He wants us to rest in Him, He wants to rejuvenate our spirit, to make us truly whole in spirit mind and body. 

To do that we must allow Him more than a passing place in our lives.

“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

Later, Art (-: