Taking God's Provision of Rest
The Rule of St Benedict... "Monks were given their own room at a time in history where many families all slept in one room. Because Benedict wanted the monastics to have the tools and opportunity for reflection. He wanted no living situation to be so austere & ascetic that both sleep & thinking became impossible. In Benedictine spirituality members get what they need both bed and bedding, both privacy and personal care."
This speaks to me today as it feels like we are aching all over from all the intensity of the season we are just completing. God knows and cares about the needs & limits of our spirits, souls and bodies. The last year has brought us through a move, building a house, moving into the new house, marrying 2 sons, graduating another & shipping him out to the armed services and dealing with a family crisis. This passage resonates with the leading we are feeling for a new season of renewal and recovery. This is good. God cares and created our spirit, souls and bodies knowing that we need rhythm, limits and rest. Flow with what our loving creator designed in us and the provision that he has provided for us.
The perplexing part is that many times even though he has provided and told us tocome and rest, many times we do not come and take that provision. I was in a conversation just the other day about the gift of Sabbath. A gift that our God gave to his people that no other culture, nation or religion had ever received. No other culture had ever known anything but constant 7 day a week toil and survival. Jehovah gave us a day of rest, renewal & joy and called us to take this gift and to trust Him to care for our needs. He called us to break the killing pattern of constant work and receive the gift of abundant life and healing that a day of rest would bring. His people heard his instruction and yet many did not obey. They were afraid to stop. They were uncomfortable with stopping, the unfamiliar, no matter how much every part of them ached for it.
My husband and I both sense that God is calling us to a season of rest. God help us to receive what you have provided, to live this beautiful life in a completely different way, by following the pattern you set to live in a rhythm in harmony with every cell of our spirit, soul & body.
In contrast, when humans live without God's control and care at the forefront of our minds, we live driven, scrambling .... in survival mode, believing our efforts are the only thing keeping us from going under. Do we believe we are the children of a God who cares for us? Taking time for rest, whether it be a Sabbath, or as in our case now, a season, when you say "no" to scrambling, declaring that life & meaning will not be lost if I choose to stop, & obey the still small voice; demonstrating that I truly do believe that my life is not my own. My survival is not carried on my shoulders. We establish in ourselves and to everyone around us that we are the children of a heavenly Father who cares for our needs. We do not need to live in fear but in the gift and grace of a life carried by God himself.