Rest

This is one of the areas I feel I have to constantly work on and strive for. Strive for rest… oxymoron? But it is true I do have to make a concerted effort not to overwork myself. I suppose I come by it naturally, my mom and dad have always been hard workers. Hard work is a good thing, but longevity and health come from rest in conjunction with work. I am teaching a workshop tomorrow on time management and I will be ending with the topic of rest. Here is what I wrote in my teaching notes:

 

In the Old Testament God gave the Sabbath as a gift to men. In Hebrews we also see that it was a signpost to point people to enter the true rest of Jesus. A rest that consisted not of working for salvation but instead resting in the work of Jesus Christ at the cross. Therefore, now a true sabbath, a true rest, will only come as one realizes that one doesn’t need to work for God’s approval. It is really only once a person fully comes to that revelation that they will find peace and rest for their souls. It is also only then that they will really be able to take a break from their work and truly rest, because there will be no guilt in rest, no propelling force driving them to ‘just do more.’ God has placed rest in all of creation for us to see. If you are a surfer you know that waves come in sets, a bunch of large waves and then there is a break. The heart pumps, pauses, pumps, pauses. The body needs to sleep every night. Trees goes dormant over winter. Bears hibernate. Geese take turns being in the lead as they migrate. God has put evidence all around us that rest is just as important as activity. In fact, in music the beauty of melodies is accentuated by rests of silence between notes.

 

Now the challenge is to live my own teaching, always the biggest challenge for me. I want to teach with integrity. I don’t think this means perfection, but a true desire to live what I preach- to walk the talk:) We’ll post some pictures in the next few days of our training session tomorrow! Enjoy the new video from Titus Project South Africa who just sent a team to Rwanda this past summer.