Rest

A friend of mine has a dairy farm and along with the hundreds of cows that they have, their lives are filled with four adorable children.  Their youngest daughter is a sweet redheaded little girl. This amazing child enjoys getting up early to milk the cows with her daddy. When I say early I’m talking about 3:45 AM!

Recently she went out to milk the cows with her dad and found herself tired, needing some rest. She put on her dads flannel shirt, crawled into a large round bin of towels in the barn, curled up and fell asleep.

This is such a perfect picture to me of what it means to rest in the Lord.

We cover up ourselves with his love and his grace. We try to get as close to Him as we can.  We are so much like this little girl wearing her father’s flannel.

Wouldn’t it be nice to curl up and get comfortable, letting all our pretenses go, where there is no fear of what we look like, just pure abandonment at His feet?

What we find there is blissful. Contentment is found because we know we are home, loved, embraced and we are safe. “Come to me He whispers”.

How long has it been since

You’ve been there?

You’ve curled up and rested in the presence of the king?

You have felt accepted, loved, forgiven, chosen and adored?

Rest, rest and rest

The word rest in Greek is anapauo

Anapauo means

to rest

relax

to calm

to refresh

Anapauo has the root word pauo in it. Pauo is where we get the word pause. So in essence the word rest in Matthew 11 means to pause, to stop, cease.  Jesus is asking us to come to Him and stop, pause, rest!

I need to crawl up and lay at His feet today! How about you?

The Wrong Shoes

This morning I was in a hurry. I wanted to get to some pesky weeds that had been leering at me. Throwing on shorts, t-shirt, tennis shoes, hat and bug spray, I was going to tackle those bothersome weeds once and for all! Fortunately, I was in the flower bed just in the nick of time! There were weeds on top of weeds! Some were hiding inside of plants and others had no shame at all, they were right there for all the world to see!

An hour later the weeds had been sufficiently plucked from the soil and then I got out the big gun!  Weed spray! Hopefully in my zealousness to permanently remove the weeds no flowers were hurt in the process. 

When I returned inside, I removed my shoes and then it became clear to me! I was wearing two very different tennis shoes!

Honestly, I never even looked at the shoes. I was blinded by my urgency to get the job done! I thought that one felt different from the other one, but never stopped to look at it.

I’d like to say that this is the first time that I wasn’t paying attention, but that would not be the truth!   Sometimes I need to slow down so that I don’t miss the important stuff. This is a sign to me that I need a rest.  Not just sleep, but some soul keeping, tending to the hidden places of my heart and mind.

Like the weeds that have sprung up in my garden I have weeds that need to be tended in my life. I must return to the important stuff not just the urgent ones!

Jesus showed us what the important stuff is.

Children

Relationships

Celebrations

Grace

Forgiveness

Sacrifice

Time with the Father

Restoration

Heaven

Slowing down for this go, go girl is difficult! Only Jesus can adequately cause me to stop and listen. The urgencies of this world are definitely the wrong shoes for me!

It reminds me of this song 

Slow me down oh Lord slow me down
Help my heart to hear Your sound
Speak into my life Lord speak now
Slow me down oh Lord slow me down

Clear my mind oh Lord clear my mind
Bring me peace that I cannot find
Take my worldly thoughts break my pride
Clear my mind oh Lord clear my mind

Wake my soul oh Lord wake my soul
With this mess I’ve made make me whole
Of this life called mine take control
Wake my soul oh Lord wake my soul

Slow me down oh Lord slow me down
Help my heart to hear Your sound
Speak into my life Lord speak now
Slow me down oh Lord slow me down
Slow me down oh Lord slow me down
Slow me down oh Lord slow me down

Robbie Seay Band

Often God speaks to me in the moments of my daily life.  Today I hear Him asking me to slow down, meet with Him and rest. These shoes feel like the right ones!

The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place Mark 6:30-32 

 My prayer is that as you and I encounter the urgent, the challenges and the crazy that we find a holy place. Where we can Go with Jesus and rest.

Lesson #5

Lesson #5 Rest is important

Eyes pop open and I realize I slept through the entire night! Not once did I turn over and begin to wonder, "Is she was okay?" I never looked at my phone to see if there were multiple phone calls from her begging me to bring her home. I just slept peacefully, blissfully drooling and dreaming. Delighted  in rest.

Sleep is nothing new. We all do it, but sometimes it's interrupted by noises, phone calls, children crying, thunder and sometimes, it's just our minds that will not rest.

Over the last month my sleep has been interrupted by thoughts of my mom and by phone calls from her in the middle the night.

My mother's once routine lifestyle had been interrupted by a hospital stay and an even longer rehab hospital where nurses came in and things weren't familiar. Let's just say that her anxiety level went through the roof!

When her sleep became interrupted, my sleep became interrupted. Much like an infant whose schedule has not been solidified, my mother's sleep schedule had been changed.

Blissfully this morning, after having my mom return to her home I slept! I slept good and hard and awoke this morning with a delighted sense of rest.

It's what I've been praying, craving, and hoping for.  In the scheme of things it may not seem like that big of a deal, but when my rest becomes a jumbled mess, it's more like a nightmare. I don't respond in kindness ,my brain has less ability to think clearly and throughout the day all I can think about is taking a nap. It reminds me of when my children were small and I lived in that world of little rest.

A few days ago a good friend reminded me of what the Lord wants to do for me. The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still.

This verse has been enfolding me in the arms of Jesus reminding me of his deep love.

What exactly does it mean, that He will fight for me? 

The Lord fights for us in many ways. One of my favorite verses says He is a victorious warrior.

He with us in the Fight and will be Victorious

The LORD your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy. 

Zephaniah 3:17

The Battle is His

You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you. 

2 Chronicles 20:17

God Hears us and Delivers us

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their distress and troubles. Psalm 34:17

I've spoken much about this image of the Lord going before us and being our rear guard, but honestly it's how I live my life now. Trusting that He has gone before, that he has checked out the land and He knows what's there. It's living in the belief the If He is real then He has prepared a way and that He is following behind me to clean up my messes, to protect me from behind.

But then there's the question of how do I be still? It's not one of my best attributes to be honest. I know how to stop. I know how to ask Jesus to meet with me and for the Holy Spirit to remind me, but I'm not so good at doing it over and over. These verses encourage me to be still to cause anxious thoughts to be held captive before the Lord.  It is then that He speaks softly to me and gives me rest.

I'm praying that this is a new season of rest.

Where do you find rest where do you need the Lord to fight for you?

It has been a while

I think that I have been in a period of reflection for long enough! 

Sometimes I require time away, time alone and time to just be.  In my life as a mother, teacher, pastor's wife, and women's ministry director it can be so difficult to be still, to spend time reflecting, to just, stop.  When there are times that I am forced to stop I usually do not like it! I am inwardly like a 2 year old that kicks and screams, throwing themselves on the floor, crying until they fall asleep. It is difficult for me to be still. because the lists just keep on going, on and on they fill my mind of what is to come, what needs to be done, the people that I must talk to.

Recently I was lavished with a hot stone massage, let me say, Fabulous!  The tension was gone mixed with soothing warmth. Even in the midst of this restful time, my mind began to create a list. In between these moments of silence, my mind was still at work, trying to create order of my life.  I was not still! 

This fight of mine is not new. When I was a little girl I would make up scenarios of Donny Osmond coming to my town and falling in love with me.  My mind would rehearse the moment that we would meet, I would practice saying hello, with just the right smirk and eye contact. How could he not fall head over heels in love with me?

When there have been difficult situations with tough topics, I have rehearsed the conversation to think through the possibilities. 

I am sure that I have done all of this rehearsing because it quiets my mind. It takes some of the anxiety away. Ultimately it soothes my need to be in control.

When I do finally give in to the rest, to completely allow the Spirit to intercede, and speak into my soul it is then and only then that I am fully rested, at peace and able to move forward in the confidence that God goes before me. 

The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Deuteronomy 31:8

Out my window

This is the view out of my window. It beckons me to rest, relax and breathe in the beauty. I can hear the good shepherd say, "Come to me, all of you who are tired and burdened and I will give you rest". My summer has been full of visiting family, traveling to Colombia, vacationing, chaplaining at camp, and unpacking a new classroom. Right now I am so happy to be home, looking out of this window. Rest!

Do you fit into the category of needing rest? 

Jesus says that there is one way to find rest and that is to "come to Him" . Often I will try and find rest by sleeping in, indulging in a HGTV marathon of House Hunters or by scanning the Internet. When the one thing that is better, the one thing that will give me true rest is sitting with the Master. Luke 10:38-42

Why then do we continue striving to check things off of our list instead of stopping and enjoying the view? 

Today, why not enjoy the view and rest in the arms of Jesus. Rest.