Sometimes, you just need another 30 minutes of sleep. Sometimes you can’t do life without it. I had to give it thought this morning as I didn’t make it to bed on time last night. Will I be able to give today my best, if I don’t get enough sleep? I decided the answer was no. On this, Maundy Thursday of Holy Week, my devotional reading was from Mark chapter 12. A scribe asked Jesus what the most important command of all was. Jesus answered, “The most important is Listen, Israel. The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. The second is, Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other command greater than these.” While I love my family, very much, if I fill myself to the brim with busy while I’m running on insufficient sleep, it will be hard to show my love, and what good is it for me to only say that I love my family or my God and to not show it? If I am tired and moody and busy and empty, what good is any of it? But there is hope. Jesus doesn’t change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. God loves us so much that he gave his one and only son. His love for me doesn’t change. He is always a good, good, Father. There will be times when we are tired and running on empty. There will be times when our words are short and snappy. There will be times when we are busy. But in all of those times, Jesus is there with us. God’s love sustains us. His grace is sufficient. Are you running on empty today? Are you busy in your mind before your day even starts? Let the Holy Spirit fill you with peace today.

Today’s poem is a smell poem.

The smell of books

in an old library

fills the air

musty and crisp

from books dated and brand new

The smell so strong it’s

like you can feel the presence of the classic authors

penning their work within

the library walls,

Alcott, Hemingway, Plath,

Melville, Dickens, The Bronte Sisters,

Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky,

Breathe it in deep

peace and calm within the stacks

Breathe it in deep

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