Seeking to Rest

Sometimes I wish I could have days upon days when I don't do a thing.  I'm so busy, though, that taking even a couple of hours a day sets me back and causes the pile of stuff I have to do to get higher and higher.  To say that I am overwhelmed with work and other things is a large understatement.

That's not what life is supposed to be like.  Just looking at the way the 24 hour span of time works is enough to prove we are not meant to be non-stop.  There is a balanced cycle of activity and rest built into the days by the One Who Created the days.  Why should we imagine that we can modify such perfect cycle?  Our arrogance?  Our pride?  Our focus on the things of this world?  All of the above?

Whatever it is that makes us join the mad race of life in our society, needs to stop!  I need it to stop!

I need to at least put it on pause, so I can recalibrate and find my true north again.  I feel lost in the myriad of to-do lists, e-mails and agendas.  It's as if I've walked deep into the woods without my GPS.  And now, I'm not sure I know how to turn around and go back home.

The reason why I've lost my compass is because I've forgotten that the compass is the Word of God.  The minute I remember that, I regain a sense of direction.  As soon as I turn my eyes back to His promises, I regain hope. 

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11: 28-30

The plain and uncompromising words of Jesus bring me comfort tonight.  They call me and they offer me peace.  "Come to me..."  Yes, Lord, to You I come for rest...as you promised.  But it is not rest that implies a "do-nothing" condition.  He invites us to take His yoke upon ourselves...and learn...two very active states of being that imply work.  The difference is that work in Him, work that is done in Him, is not work at all, for He is the One doing it.  We are just along for the ride, hence the "light burden."

Jesus is the One Who Did it all and He continues to do it the same today as He did back on the Cross.  As we walk with Him towards our sanctification, He teaches us how to carry the yoke as He did:  with the eyes fixed on eternity and the heart lifted toward the Father.

May the Holy Spirit guide us towards a place of rest, true rest, the rest that is only possible when we drop the yoke of this world and take upon the yoke of Christ.