Can you find rest.... I wonder?

As I get ready to meet with the children of our day care for our weekly chapel conversation, I was reading a portion of Hannah Whitall Smith's book, The Christian's Secret to a Happy Life. As a Quaker, Hannah spent a great deal of time thinking and quietly reflecting on this subject. 

Her words will speak to the heart of anyone who finds her and spends time considering what she has to say. Specifically I was held with the following passage: 

"And here you must rest. There is nothing more for you to do, except to be henceforth an obedient child; for you are the Lord's now, absolutely and entirely in His hands, and He has undertaken the whole care and management and forming of you, and will, according to His word, work in you "that which is well pleasing in His sigh through Jesus Christ" (Hebrews 13:21). But you must hold steadily here. If you begin to question your surrender, or God's acceptance of it. . .  He cannot work in you to do His will." 

I had to reread that passage more than once because the truth of her words cut me deep as I worry if I have been productive enough this week as a Christian. 

We like to think that we are in charge of our lives and our own future. We like to think that we can change the world ourselves. Boot-strapping is alive and well in the Body of Christ (and to an extent we do play a role in service to God as we practice our faith). But by practicing a posture of being in charge for ourselves we offer ourselves so little room and space to rest in the Lord--and resting in the Lord is so needed today. 

We can become so busy running and pressing and hurrying from thing to thing that we miss the chance to just rest. We can miss the chance to hold God's hand and let God hold ours. In truth, I believe the rest that Hannah speaks of is what is most needed in our day today. We need less yelling and less finger pointing and more resting in the Lord--a Lord who we can never go to a place where HE is not waiting for us already. 

And for us... that presence needs to be enough. 

I wonder, can you find rest today in a world that will try to push you away from God and away from rest?

 

A New Challenge for You

I have not written in this space in a while. But nonetheless I have still been wondering. And still been seeking to engage the question of where is God at work. 

Here in South Carolina it has become bitterly cold. . . Cold like it was when my family lived in Pennsylvania. I have been joking that I no longer have the clothes for this type of weather. My toes are in a constant state of chilly and I can't wait to feel the heat of the south rise again (and yes, I will complain about it when it comes).   

As the cold has come some things have remained the same. 

Flynn still needs to go out at night between 2-3am which I found horrible in this cold. Tucked into his sweater, he trots out every night into the freezing cold to do his business with a toy in his mouth. He is happy so I guess I have to be happy with him. It is so quiet at night here. The sky is so still in this cold. The steam from my breath seems to make a sound as the cloud rises up. 

He has never seen snow so it's funny to watch him navigate picking his spot while trying to figure out what 'snow' is and why it is here. 

We slip quietly back into the house and back to bed. He sighs and returns to his place against my leg and soon is off to sleep again. I find the whole thing (irritating as it can be to wake with a dog standing on your face) a sacred practice. 

The whole thing. . . standing there in the silent cold. Listening to the night a practice of the sacred. I cannot help but pray especially with all that is happening in our life now. And so here is the challenge for you: Can you find the sacred also? 

This cold irritates me. Like I said, my feet are so cold even now. My fingers ache and even in my office the tip of my nose is cool to the touch. Nothing about winter seems sacred. But it is. . . Or should I say: it can be. And in that affirmation, I again wonder if what you are doing right now can also be a practice in the sacred? 

Maybe (after you finish reading this) lean back and consider where the sacred space with God could be today? And when you find it, try and linger there for just a little longer than you normally might. . . and enjoy it.