The Discipline of Rest
Doesn't really make sense does it? I mean the title. But sometimes resting can be more work that doing and going and going and doing. I mean it can take more effort to put down the list, close the door, and shut out the demands and responsibilities. It takes discipline.
We have a demand on us, an order (or orders) placed on us; as if we were a catalog of available time and demand was outbidding our supply. Our time is taxed. A continual draw from a world that boasts of great leisure and pleasure while exacting a high price for that illusion of joy. It totes a once-a-year super vacation that can't even be enjoyed because it takes us two weeks to unwind from a year of craziness and being worked to the bone.
Vacations are great, but they are not God's method of rest. No, He has a different plan. (Which is really not that surprising, given that He tends to do things differently than the world around us) God's method of rest dictates the treasuring of a single day, every week. The elevation of a day of rest. Rest made for us. Rest we need. Rest at regular intervals.
Yet, we are often too busy to take even one day. Priorities knock at our door. Things "have" to get done. And so we ignore the rest made for us; the rest we need.
I'm going to challenge you. Take a day, and rest. And some clarification: rest is not sitting in front of technology or indulging in the electronic entertainment that inundates our society. So, let me try and redefine rest for you.
A walk. A quiet walk in the woods. Enjoying God's gift, grace, and beauty.
A phone call. A slow, enjoyable talk with a friend or family.
A book. A love story, a mystery, something to call you into a beautiful world.
A coffee. With a friend, with a pastry, without worry of diets.
Prayer. Not rote, not words. Letting down. Being real with God. Leaving the junk for Him to deal with.
It was Jesus, after all, Who said, "Come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest."
So, not only do I challenge you to rest, but He is calling you to it.
Doesn't really make sense does it? I mean the title. But sometimes resting can be more work that doing and going and going and doing. I mean it can take more effort to put down the list, close the door, and shut out the demands and responsibilities. It takes discipline.
We have a demand on us, an order (or orders) placed on us; as if we were a catalog of available time and demand was outbidding our supply. Our time is taxed. A continual draw from a world that boasts of great leisure and pleasure while exacting a high price for that illusion of joy. It totes a once-a-year super vacation that can't even be enjoyed because it takes us two weeks to unwind from a year of craziness and being worked to the bone.
Vacations are great, but they are not God's method of rest. No, He has a different plan. (Which is really not that surprising, given that He tends to do things differently than the world around us) God's method of rest dictates the treasuring of a single day, every week. The elevation of a day of rest. Rest made for us. Rest we need. Rest at regular intervals.
Yet, we are often too busy to take even one day. Priorities knock at our door. Things "have" to get done. And so we ignore the rest made for us; the rest we need.
I'm going to challenge you. Take a day, and rest. And some clarification: rest is not sitting in front of technology or indulging in the electronic entertainment that inundates our society. So, let me try and redefine rest for you.
A walk. A quiet walk in the woods. Enjoying God's gift, grace, and beauty.
A phone call. A slow, enjoyable talk with a friend or family.
A book. A love story, a mystery, something to call you into a beautiful world.
A coffee. With a friend, with a pastry, without worry of diets.
Prayer. Not rote, not words. Letting down. Being real with God. Leaving the junk for Him to deal with.
It was Jesus, after all, Who said, "Come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest."
So, not only do I challenge you to rest, but He is calling you to it.
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