“Rest”

What comes to mind when you hear the word “rest”?

For many it means taking a breather from whatever it is they are doing. Workers view “15 minute breaks” and “lunch breaks” as part of their normal workdays. Parents of newborns get to rest whenever and however the baby allows. And when life is going badly, we often cry out “give me a break!”

Yup, “rest” must mean “stopping your activity”.

For about the past year I have been “listening” and have heard the words “be still and rest” from many different places. I have been hearing them in conversations at church, songs on the radio (Speak To Me, by Kari Jobe), as well as Marco Polo “chats” I have with a group of guys.

Interesting…but what did it mean?? Am I supposed to just stop everything I am doing and wait?? Really?!?!

I don’t know.

I do know my life has been “in transition” since I was let go from Walgreens about 9 months ago. Much has happened in that time. The most visible “transitions” were starting my job as a baker/mail order clerk at the abbey and buying a house. Ya know, I’m not really sure one would have happened without the other. Yes, it may have been easier acquiring the house loan if I had been employed by Walgreens,  but by being employed at the abbey my time was much more available – I had the time to go to open houses. I had time to prep for the move. I had time to move. I had time for all the “post move” crap. Time I most likely wouldn’t have had if I had been at Walgreens.

In that time I also scratched the surface of what the words “be still and rest” perhaps meant.

It would have been easy to cease ALL activity, but that’s not what God meant. The guys on Polo expanded “be still and rest” to “be still and rest in Christ”. That’s a whole ‘nother ballgame!

Ok, “Be still and rest in Christ”.  What does THAT mean?

Looking back, I do know whenever I became frustrated with the house search, I just wanted to stop the process completely, ya know, just sorta “be done with it” for a while; take a break from it. But yet, I never did.

What I did do was hand the search over to God. If we were going to get a house, He’d have to show us the way. I had to trust that God would deliver – which He did and ALWAYS does.

Ya know, same goes for the job. Yes, I love what I do at the abbey, but quite honestly, I could use a bigger paycheck now that we have a house and all the dreams for “this-n-that” which come along with the house.

So…I’ve been looking for a job. And ya know what? It’s not going well and I’ve wanted to give up, quit…but I can’t.

Why? Because I’m going to “Be still and rest in Christ” again, and trust that He’ll open the door when the time is right.

“Be still and rest” is not about “ceasing all activity and letting God do the work”. It’s about putting in the time, doing the work and trusting that in God’s time I’ll receive an answer. It’s just that for the “right now” I’m where God wants me to be – it’s about “being still and resting” where He wants me to be. It’s about trusting Him.

I’m not really sure how this happened, but in the past three weeks(?) I’ve gone from struggling to write a SINGLE blog a month to writing TWO completely different blog entries EVERY WEEK! I’ve also re-started the writing of the family golf story book. It seems like I have taken on even MORE ACTIVITY by “being still and resting”.

Interesting…Could it be that “Being still and resting in Him” lead to greater activity, greater blessings from Him?

Why yes, yes it did. This blog entry is “proof” of that.

“Be still and rest in Him” – It works for me. It’ll work for you.