Pages

Saturday, June 30, 2007

Rest

I don’t think vacations are all they are cracked up to be. Summer is filled with expectations of getting away to our favorite places to relax and have fun. Yet the last week before we leave work or home we have to work twice as hard to get things ready. Then we go away for a few days, which hardly seems like enough, and we return home and to work, again to do twice as much work catching up.

What do you do when you feel stressed and overwhelmed with a too busy lifestyle? I cry out to God. Some of the following passages from scripture come to mind and give me comfort: “The Lord is my Shepherd; I will not have to want for anything. He makes me lie down by quiet waters.” (My paraphrase of Psalm 23:1) God provides for all my needs. That means I don’t have to worry about anything, and He makes me rest. I often think I don’t have time to rest, but when I do, my sleep is sweet. Sometimes just reading a book for a while can be refreshing to me.

“Come to me all you who are weary and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. I am gentle and humble.” (Again my paraphrase of Matthew 11:28) This tells me that God is waiting to help me. He has a yoke of lesser burden. I can take orders from a gentle and humble God, instead of inflicting myself with circumstantial stress. I can slow down and learn how to set priorities for what is really important.

God brings me love, joy, peace, hope, gentleness and kindness to soften the stressful nature of my life, and I need to remember to rest in His care more often.

2 comments:

ElizabethMThompson said...

My vacations are not restful, either, but they do break up the routine and refresh me. I try to make sure there are meals in the freezer when I return and that I come home to a clean, orderly house. That reduces some of the stress when I return.

You are right, we find our true rest in Christ. The great thing is we don't have to go away to find him!

Sue Tornai said...

Your comment is well taken and adds dimension to my discussion of "rest."