WE NEED SOME REST

For several weeks I had really painful shoulder and upper back pain. I went to acupuncture. I did exercises, took pills, applied heat and ice and still, I was in agony. A friend who is a physical therapist came over and started massaging my neck and back. She said, “You’re carrying a heavy load sister.” She was right. But it’s not just me carrying a heavy load, we all are.

If we are caring and aware people, we are carrying an existential sense of dread and sadness in these times. And we are not wrong to have it.

Let’s be honest here. Our world , as we have known it is badly broken. Basic safe-guards, and foundations of our society are crumbling. Courts have cleared the way for almost anything the current administration can imagine. The military has been weaponized against it’s own citizens. International relations are badly broken or frayed. Retribution, revenge, and retaliation are the tools of control and power used by our government. It’s too cold in the east and too warm in the west. Water tables are being depleted and yet we build and build and build. If there’s a way to make money nothing stands in our way.

Add to all this the heavy personal loads we carry. Ill health, financial concerns, marriages not working, friendships frayed, and tired, weary bodies seem almost unbearable in times like these.

How is it possible to be truly at peace now?

These days I am reminded of one of my favorite Bible passages:

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me. Watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Forget everything else. I’m offering you a yoke that fits right and a light load.” Matthew 11:28-30 in the Message

Burned out, worn out, tired? YES!’’

What is God’s remedy?

COME

First, He tells us to come to Him. Where do we usually go when things seem overwhelming? Entertainment, sex, drugs, alcohol, or social media? We will do almost anything except get quiet and come to the only One who can really give us rest.

Coming to Him is not some unreachable work only done in a church or by monks. It can be as simple as taking a long slow walk, or taking time to intentionally look at a tree. Maybe we even linger long enough to wonder when it’s limbs were broken, how old it is, or what formed it’s misshapen trunk. Perhaps it means putting on a set of headphones and listening to a beautiful piece of music. Maybe it’s lighting candles and taking a bath. It means we stop our endless thinking loops. WE quiet not only our surroundings but our minds as well. And, we don’t just stop, we stop WITH God. We realize we are being companioned. We pour out our hearts to Him. We argue, or complain, or cry. We do not stuff it. We do not deny it. We do not numb it. We COME to Him.

The other day I was watching a movie, and a five year old who was looking for a newborn calf with his father paused and said this:

“If I were lost I know my mom could find me. So why don’t we let the mother cow out of the barn? She’ll find him.” Sure enough the mother cow led them right to the baby calf. That little boy knew the place to go. For him it was mom. The place for us is our compassionate ever-present God.

WALK AND WORK

Then He invites us to walk and work with Him. In other words we are invited to live our daily lives accompanied by Him. We are not alone when we put our baby in a car seat covered in crushed cookies for the 9 thousandth time, pick up the trash all over the driveway because the bag broke on the way to the trash can, feed the dog, pay the bills when we are tight on money, babysit the grandkids when our backs ache, do the 10th load of laundry, or go back to the grocery store to get what we forgot the first time. The point Jesus seems to be making is that we are invited to do it all with Him. Yes, we need to get quiet first, but then we are invited to understand that He is really right here with us, in us, and for us. There’s not one of our thoughts that alarms Him. There’s not a feeling He doesn’t already know. We are being invited into deep companionship all the time, everywhere, no matter what we are enduring.

WATCH HOW I DO IT

You might be asking, “how do I do that?”

Not long ago our two year great nephew was visiting us. He wanted to get up on a chair and help us cook. We chose tasks he could do, and then encouraged him to watch us do it. He watched intently, and then he imitated what he saw. He was so delighted at his success. Jesus invites us to watch how He does it.

To understand this part of the invitation I can only reflect on the Biblical accounts showing us how He did do it. Here are some things I notice.

It seems He was never in a hurry. He was never concerned about impending danger even though His followers warned Him repeatedly that He was heading for trouble. He was never alarmed by the lack of money as He lived assured that there would always be enough. He constantly talked to His Father. He removed Himself from the fray and went off to be alone when He was overwhelmed. He was not put off by the failures of friends. He let the foolish Jewish and Roman rulers carry on with their delusional grip on power as He choose to abide by the values and truth of a totally different Kingdom. He cared, He cried, He got tired, He felt deserted, and He suffered. This is the Jesus we are instructed to watch.

His way is described as the unforced rhythms of grace. There was no stridency. There was not rush or force or angry reaction. There was an easy following wherever His Father led Him.

I used to play in my high school and college orchestras. I remember conductors pounding their batons on the music stand telling us “don’t rush it, just stay with the music”. Just stay with the music. Just stay with it. Walk with it. Think with it, be with it. It is unforced.

So there’s the remedy offered to us by a compassionate God who knows exactly how we are feeling. Greenland, Venezuela, tent camps used as immigration holding facilities, false information about vaccines, observers being shot in the face are all reasons to be sad, reasons to care more deeply, and reasons to pray. They are also reasons to step aside, to leave the noise, to watch how He does it, to ask for wisdom as to how we can live alongside Him in unforced rhythms of grace.

In doing so, He promises that the load we still carry will not feel so heavy. It will not crush us or our spirits. It will be one we can carry because it is shared.

The other day I had to move a heavy bookcase in my office. I asked my brother to come over and help me. Together we moved it easily. It was a shared load. It was too much for me alone, but rather light as we did it together.

Oh caring companioning Father, there is so much feels overwhelming to us. May you remind us to stop, to step away from the noise, to watch you in the unforced rhythms of grace, and to share the load with you. Remind us that we are not alone we pray. Amen