Rest as a Rule

Cancer forced me into rest with an immediacy and a totality I had never experienced before. ⁣⁣⁣⁣

More than just giving myself a break, it was a breaking. An all-systems shutdown. And I believe it was for more than just that season. ⁣⁣⁣

I’ve learned to experience rest as a rule, rather than the exception.⁣⁣⁣⁣

It’s not laziness or apathy, and it’s not a disregard for purpose, but a knowing where control really lies - it’s not with me.⁣⁣⁣⁣

I don’t have all the answers and I’m not supposed to. I can’t do everything, and I shouldn’t try to. I was never created to carry the weight of the world, or the weight of others’ expectations, on my shoulders. I’m not here to keep up with anyone else.

What today’s culture says I should be obsessed with obtaining usually tastes like empty calories for my soul: good going down, but no lasting nourishment. ⁣⁣

God sees every major turn of events long before the calendar turns a page. He is not sidelined or shipwrecked by the surprises of life, or by my fear of them, and since I’m carried by Him, neither am I.⁣⁣⁣⁣

I can rest because He never does. ⁣⁣⁣⁣

He leads with a gentleness and a kindness not otherwise known, but so often we run ahead to manifest solutions He already has - if we would just still ourselves long enough to listen. ⁣⁣⁣⁣

So before we rush into the year like all our dreams and aspirations have caught on fire, let’s not forget the simple rhythms of rest He’s trying to teach us. ⁣⁣⁣⁣

He already provided the way. All we have to do is walk in it.

Jeremiah 6:16⁣⁣⁣⁣