I had a zillion things I wanted to pray about this morning. Work. Relationships. Scheduling. Family. Church. Responsibilities. Hurting people. Transitions. Decisions. I’m telling you, a zillion things. To borrow from Henri Nouwen, who said it better than I can, my inner life looked “like a banana tree full of jumping monkeys.”

Ordinarily I would try to soldier through. I’d pray for help and then discipline myself to articulate the needs, stresses, and burdens on my heart. And sometimes I think that’s what I need to do.

However, today God led me to something entirely different. He reminded me of invitation after invitation to rest, like these:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

“In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength” (Isaiah 30:15, NKJV).

“I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me” (Psalm 131:2).

So in my mind, I bundled up all the “monkeys” and handed them to Him. And then in my soul, I just sat with Him for a while. I said, Abba, You are here with me. You care about these things and You care about me. I choose to trust in Your love. I didn’t ask for anything or say anything more. I just sat there with Him and allowed Him to restore my soul.

I came away from that time feeling unburdened and refreshed. And I realized there’s more than one way to quiet jumping monkeys.