Needed Rest

MY REFLECTION
I go. I do. I’m constantly going and doing.
I’m really constantly thinking. I think I‘m probably going and doing in my sleep!
Even without everything that I’m asked to do, or all the things I agreed to do, or all the
things I want to do, my driven and often wandering thought life is, alone, enough to
wear me out.

The culture I live in demands that I make it happen no matter what, never stop looking
for a way to level up, dominate, wow everyone at all times, and do it all out of my own
amazing strength, white-knuckling my bootstraps.
Impossible. Fantasy.

I need rest. Real rest.
All the way down, all the way through, soaking rest.
For my brain and attention.
For my muscles and lungs.
For my inundated soul.

You?

Jesus invites us to himself for rest. Not to reject work and activity altogether. Rather to
learn from him how to go and do and rest his way. After all, he said that He is The
Way. The way to live as he designed us to experience life, in his kingdom, for his
purposes, to his glory.

SCRIPTURE
I love this version of Jesus’ words in Matthew 11:28-30 from The Message:
(take a long breath in and out and read slowly)
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and
you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with
me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy
or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

INVITATION
Stop your action, movement, productivity, progress;
your thinking, processing, strategizing, figuring it out;
your being frustrated, hating, wondering, worrying;
your physically, mentally, and emotionally chasing after a hundred things in a day.

For a moment.

Be unproductive, be still. If you are able, actually stop moving your body. If you can’t
completely stop, move less.
Breath. Slowly. Deeply.
Feel.
Listen.
Soak. For a little longer.

Hear Jesus’ invitation to you that’s offered over and over and over, like another wave
flattening itself on the shore:
”Come to me. Get away with me.
Watch how I do it.
Walk with me. Keep company with me.”

AND when you come to Jesus, don’t stand in front of him and tell him how heavy the
burden on your shoulders is.

Drop it.

You don’t want it up on your shoulders any more than he does. It will immediately be
replaced with Jesus’ arms around you.

YOUR REFLECTION
How often do you actually stop? Pause everything? Even for one minute. To just be. Be
present to God who is present to you.
How many times did you stop this week? Today?

He’s been waiting for you. He’s in control of the entire universe and is able to hold all
things together while you stop to be with him.
And can I add that many of us need to pause the work we’re doing for Jesus in order to
be with Jesus?
(I had to do so in the middle of writing this.)

INVITATION (#2)
Is it your ambition you need to put aside for a moment?
Is it your need to feel productive or needed that you need to release for a moment?
Is it your worry or cycling thoughts you need relief from for a moment?
Is it your entertainment or self-distracting you need to put out of arms reach for a
moment?
Is it your hopes about or anticipation of someone other than Jesus that you need to lay
down for a moment?

PRAYER
Jesus, you are the active king of the universe AND the fierce lover of my soul.
I need rest and I’m coming to you for your rest. Help me to relax my body and thoughts
and feelings for a moment.

Holy Spirit, What do I need to let go of?

I renounce my way and open myself again to your way.
I reject what I’m hearing from my disordered thoughts and desires, from the world, and
from the evil one.

I open my hands. I drop what I’ve been carrying.
I entrust to you the thing I feel I must control.

Thank you for inviting me to yourself. I love you. Here I am.