a REAL rest

A few times a month, I get together with 4 other girls to have "girl time". There's no specific requirement for the night. Sometimes it's a little more casual - just a Mexican food night, and other times it's a little more serious - taking time to share the weeks joys and struggles. But it is always a highlight of my week.

A few weeks ago on one such night, one of the girls, Lindsay asked if she could read us a scripture that she had been meditating on that week. It is from Matthew 11:28, but the version that she found particularly enticing was from "the Message" version, translated by Eugene Peterson.

It reads, " 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. Keep company with me and you'll learn how to live freely and lightly."

So after reading it, she asked us if we could all point out the word or phrase that stood out to us the most. For a few it was the "burned out" part... another it was the "get away and recover" idea... and for another it was the promise to not lay anything "ill-fitting" on us. But for me it was the "real rest" and "unforced rhythms".

I felt like a starving woman standing at the window of a buffet restaurant. It was intensely appealing to me and I found myself thinking, "HOW CAN I GET A REAL REST?"

The last few months has been very hectic for me. I've been working till 7 two nights a week... and on the days I worked until 3, I was heading off from 6-9 (two nights) for a Spanish class... plus with all of the usual: weekly girls night, monthly book club, the attempts to be a normal/good housewife by making meals and cleaning and working out, as well as making two moves and buying a house I have found that I am utterly exhausted. I am sure that I am not alone in this feeling... but for the first time in my life, I felt like I knew why some people need to take Xanax.

So I spent over a week trying to daily meditate on those ideas: asking God to help me experience a "real rest" in Him and helping to experience unforced rhythms... it's so appealing to me it's almost intoxicating.

What do you think of when you think about a real rest?

I like how he describes the rest with the adjective "real" in front of it.  Not just a sort-of, kind-of, half hearted rest... but a perfect rest. The most relaxing of all rests.  I think of what it must feel like to lay down without a thousand thoughts flying through my head. I imagine sitting on the beach just lying - not trying to accomplish anything. No guilt, no "shoulds..."

What about the "unforced rhythms"?

Van and I dance a lot.... he loves music, and we almost always have music playing in our house, while we clean, while we cook... and if a favorite song of his comes on, before I can even think about it, he has grabbed me and is twirling me and leading me into a dance: usually in my sweats, in my kitchen. And no matter how busy and stressed I may have been feeling before, I always end up laughing as he guides me through the dance. It's easy, it's fun, it's light. And after it's done, I go back to what I was doing with a new pep in my step. So when I think about an unforced rhythm with God, I think about how He wants to teach us to dance with Him. To not have to TRY to want to be with Him... but just to CRAVE to be with Him -- because it's fun, it's easy, and it leaves us refreshed... with a new pep in our step.

These ideas still appeal to me greatly. I'm FAR from perfecting them, but I think the best way to perfect them is to spend some time thinking about what they mean... and how we can open our hearts and our lives to be swept away in such unforced rhythms or to rest with God.