Active Rest
I was caught. Red-handed. And there was no escape.
I could barely speak; I had a cough like a horse crossed with a chimpanzee; and I looked frightfully "pasty" as my mum would say.
Like I said, I was supposed to be in bed resting. Yet there I was, standing in my front garden, branch cutters in hand, hacking out a small tree that needed to go, when Pastor Angel (whom I serve with at Life-Gate) came out his front door and caught me.
"What are you doing?!" he asked astonished.
In my best attempt at a super casual 'how's-the-weather' kinda voice, albeit croaky, I replied,
"Oh, I'm just cutting this tree down... it needed to go."
"But you're supposed to be resting."
Caught. My brain scrambled to figure out a good response,
"I am resting!"
"You are?! ...that's not resting!"
"Yes it is! This is rest."
"Rest?!"
"Yeah... active rest!"
At that, Angel burst out laughing; and I did my very best to convince him that while I was working physically, the exercise was rest for my soul, which - I assured him - is just as important as physical rest.
I was just trying to get out of having been caught... but there was a lot of truth in my words... My soul had also really needed rest. And in the months since then (that was last year) that phrase has stuck with me and I've pondered it a lot. Active rest. It turns out, there really is "something in that".
Let me ask you something:
When was the last time you felt rested in your soul? I mean, deeply rested? Serene, even. When was the last time you felt like you could really breathe? Without any anxious thoughts crowding into your mind in the those quiet moments, when you actually pause amid the chaos that is most of our lives?Did you know that the ONLY thing the New Testament calls us to labour at, is rest? (Hebrews 4:9-11)
Absolute, Perfect Rest. That's the life Jesus calls us to. Not the plethora of anxieties that errode our minds; the fears that gnaw at our stomachs; the guilt and condemnation that suffocate our hearts.
"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest..." (Psalm 91:1)
Picture the serenity of a little chick hiding under its mother's wings, warm and safe and dry, amidst the storm. That's the picture our Heavenly Father had in mind here.
"He will cover you with His feathers and under His wings shall you trust [rest]..." (91:4)
The reason most of us don't experience rest in our day-to-day lives, is because we are living our lives and having God on the side. At best, we try to take Him along with us and cry out for help when we get really, really stressed. Our Father's plan for us is vastly different though!
"He who dwells ..."
"Dwells," could also be translated 'lives':
God's desire is for us to live under the sheltering care and protection of Him perpetually (presently and continuously). Instead, most of us just make "guest appearances" under His sheltering care when we are well and truly at the end of our rope.
"she who lives under the shelter of the Most High shall [that's a promise] rest,"
Some of us need to learn to actually STOP and BE STILL (physically) and allow God to speak to our hearts (Psalm 46:10). Some of us (especially us women) need to set aside our to-do lists; choose to ignore the mess in the kitchen or that overflowing ironing pile; take a break from all the things we feel obligated to do; shut out the noise of the world and just be still. People sometimes say to me, "God doesn't speak to me like He speaks to you," Actually, He does. He speaks to all of us a whole lot more than we realise, but oftentimes, we don't still ourselves enough to hear His gentle voice of Love.
For me, I was taking taking time out to be still, and yet still struggling with stress.
Every day I set aside time with God: to share with Him, allow Him to speak to my heart from His Word and to give me thoughts. I love those times with Him! But the problem was, to me, that was rest; and then I would leave that time to begin my day and the unrest would crowd back in.
The truth is, rest is not limited to stillness. Rest is not merely a time. It is a state of being. It is a location: a place out of which I am to live my whole life.
Rest really is active. It is about me consciously and constantly choosing to adjust to the Holy Spirit; living constantly aware of Him and seeking His help in everything (even computer dramas and accounting problems and the behavioural challenges of the teenagers I work with); it is consciously choosing to refuse to allow myself to become agitated or anxious in stressful situations; and reminding myself a hundred times a day (if I need to) that God is absolutely in control and I can therefore let go, RELAX and trust Him to direct and enable me to accomplish everything He calls me to.
Remaining at rest in God when we are utterly swamped by reasons to be in unrest, is a labour! It takes a conscious, daily (or hourly!) choice. I'm so glad I was caught red-handed that day... if it wasn't for my feeble attempt to get out of a sticky situation, I might never have considered the concept of "active rest"! :)
If you're longing for genuine, soul-FULL rest, let me urge you to dig into the Word - it is supernatural (actually, Jesus IS the Word!) and if you get His Words about rest into your heart and soul, they WILL produce the fruit of rest in your heart and life!
I pray God gives you the desire and ability to labour to enter into His rest, even as I am also learning to. :)
Love always, Laur
Comments