span style=”font-family: Tahoma”>Anyone who knows me would describe me as a “go-getter” – someone who is constantly working on a goal of some sort. In fact, I’ve pretty much always trained others on how to set goals and achieve them. In the past few years, God has been very hard at work, changing my perceptions of goals and how God views my performance.
It’s been in the last five years especially God has opened my eyes to see just how precious rest is. In order for Him to get my attention, He basically had to take away all that I was striving for, but on the other side of that, I must say that the lesson of rest is one of the best gifts He’s ever given me.
First I had to learn what rest meant. I don’t know as I ever did it, at least without feeling guilty. It’s not exactly just sitting around twiddling your thumbs. It’s a purposeful pause in your day or week to simply be still in your heart, mind, soul, and strength and hang out with God.
I also didn’t realize how much work went in to resting. I have to think ahead, persevere, guard my time, say no to things I don’t want to say no to, and do nothing even when I’d really rather be doing something. I had to learn to be happy in silence.
I’ve come to realize that describing an American as “busy” is redundant. Somehow in our quest for more quality of life, we’ve lost something very valuable. We lost depth. We lost insight. We’ve lost meaningful connection. We lost the power of musing, thinking, pondering, and posing questions. We’ve cut them out of our schedule and deemed them “unproductive.”
We are constantly trying to invent time-effective ways to connect; like Facebook, Twitter, and texting. We’re learning to make our musing and connections fit within a five second window. Not that I’m against any of these – in fact, I use all of them. But, my truest connections do not happen there. They happen in the space and time that I purposely carve out of my schedule to allow my mind, heart, soul, and strength to rest and just be.
It is in that time I connect the deepest with my friends and family and with God. Don’t know if you noticed, but the Bible isn’t written like a text or a Twitter post. If we aren’t careful, we will lose the ability to embrace something richer and more profound that a five word sentence as a complete thought. Do not replace the gourmet of your Sabbath rest with fast-food style relationships. Each has their time and space in your life.
Make rest a New Year’s resolution this year. You might have to say no to Facebook for a whole day. You might need to open your Bible and pray and pray for God to reveal something to you there. You might struggle a bit with your mind wandering to a zillion other things. You might need to not take that trip to the store for things you probably don’t need. Or you may need to redefine what you think you need. You might need to say “no” to the kids or the family or to friends or to church. In essence, you could be saying “yes” to you and God.
Saying “yes” to rest, as hard as that is, may be the best thing you will ever do. As painful as silence can be to our American, 21st Century ears, it can grow to be the best sound you’ve ever hear. There is something beyond anything you’ve experienced waiting for you in the silence, rest, and quiet contemplation of God. I pray that you find it in 2010 – but, it will take some work and a lot of resolve.
“The LORD said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.’Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.” 1 Kings 19:11-12