Running on Empty

I sat down today to write and just felt empty.  No words.  No thoughts.  Not even a sensible sentence to string together.  I was a little frustrated at first.  And I almost walked away from this lovely computer.  And then my sweet girl started playing with the iPod.  The first words played spoke to the emptiness of my mind: "When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll.  Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, it is well.  It is well with my soul."

My "empty" today doesn't come from anything wrong.  Just the feeling of an empty tank.  Just that feeling of too much going on and not enough of me to go around for all of it.  Just that feeling of empty.  There's nothing left in my tank and I need to refuel.  Yet there's a talkative pre-schooler and two soon-to-be fifth graders keeping me running on just the fumes.

Just as I'm tempted to shut down for the night, certain that on empty, there's nothing I can say, I hear words that speak peace to the emptiness.  I hear words that remind me that when I'm running on empty, his peace is right where I am.  I hear words that remind me just how well it is with my soul.

God doesn't promise that my tank won't hit empty.  And he certainly never promised to bail me out when the "empty" is completely of my own doing.  But He does offer His peace.  In the good times and the bad.  In the happy and the sad.  In the full times and the empty.  He offers me rest and a chance to refuel.

Tonight I'm quietly reminded by a simple song on a iPod that while I'm on empty, truly it is well with my soul.