You Are Remembered In Restful Relationship
It's been said often where I work that once you leave, no one will remember you. People come and go. It's part of life in the RV business. When I was told that no one will remember any of us when we leave, it saddened me inside. It still saddens me inside. Here are guys who work alongside one another all day, everyday of the week. They suffer alongside each other in the heat of the day, through the many changes and adjustments that have to be made as they work. They teach the newbie's (or "juniors" as we call them) the tricks of the trade. They make chit chat together and share portions of what is happening in their lives. They laugh together. They pick on each other. They fix the work together when a board happens to be defective. They walk into the plant during the winter when you have to shuffle delicately along the ice to get in. They even eat lunch together or smoke together. You'd think that work would bring people close together to form relationships that would last a long time. It's interesting to observe things. When we work together, it seems we don't really form close bonds. We rush home after work and want to relax and not think about work because work is work. Human beings work and then there are the evenings and weekends when we get to enjoy life.
It can be a trap to think that when we all work together, we will form close bonds. But working together isn't a good foundation for closeness and bonding. It's when we build relationships in our rest, when we are off work, where relationship forms the deepest roots. It's out of enjoying each other when we are not working that we can be relaxed enough to allow ourselves to be open and vulnerable and share with one another things we wouldn't typically do at work. We are different people when we are at rest. The spirit has the medium for which to breath and connect and is aligned for a more depth of closeness. As human beings, we often enjoy connecting while eating food. Why is that? Why is the spirit more open while eating food with each other? We are more at rest. We are enjoying something together that tastes good. And while we eat and enjoy tasty food, or when we gather to enjoy something that human beings enjoy, we bond more closely, and we bond more quickly. Interesting isn't it? Now after we have established a foundation with others in this way, THEN when we do have to work with one another, it's much more enjoyable because we know the person better. We have a sweet pattern of delightful experiences that truly can make working together become more delightful. There is always a catch though. We have to be careful to continue the delicate balance of delightful experiences and work. If we edge too much on the side of work with each other.....then the work begins to lose out. Our heart just isn't in it. Our heart isn't in any work that doesn't flow out from delightful relationship. And it was designed this way on purpose.
God is a God of rest. In fact, He invites us to enter His rest. He did work. He worked for six literal days creating the universe and everything in it. Even God Himself didn't really like work. He made sure to tell us He did it in six days. It was so He could get on into the beautiful part......relationship with us in His rest. If He was still working and working, we could never really connect with Him. He'd be too busy, too distracted. But He put an end to His work so He could give us all the gift of Himself fully engaged with us. That's why He created man last after the other work was done. He saved man until the last so the moment man was created, God would be undistracted.
Will we enter into His rest and in that rest, form the deep bonds of love with Him? Will He not give us the wisdom we so need to stay in His rest and recognize when we stray into working too much - overextending ourselves to the point of loss of the joy of relationship with Him? For when we get to stand before Him when our life here on this earth is finished, will we get to hear these precious words, "well done my good and faithful servant"? Or those dreadful words, "I never knew you."
The invitation to enter His rest still stands. He still says that today, if you hear His voice, don't harden your heart. He still invites all who are weary and heavy laden to come to Him and He will give you rest. You will need to let go the things that were so important to you before to realize the sweet and tender affection of love and roots of relationship with Him that can only go deeply when you do. It's in His rest that you form the indestructible joy of relational delight and out from there, out from that delight, He will direct your paths in love. There will be hard times. There will be work. But the delight of love with Him will carry you through. Try any other way and the tender cord of love will snap. Build your life with the right foundation. Enter into His rest. You will never be forgotten this way.
It can be a trap to think that when we all work together, we will form close bonds. But working together isn't a good foundation for closeness and bonding. It's when we build relationships in our rest, when we are off work, where relationship forms the deepest roots. It's out of enjoying each other when we are not working that we can be relaxed enough to allow ourselves to be open and vulnerable and share with one another things we wouldn't typically do at work. We are different people when we are at rest. The spirit has the medium for which to breath and connect and is aligned for a more depth of closeness. As human beings, we often enjoy connecting while eating food. Why is that? Why is the spirit more open while eating food with each other? We are more at rest. We are enjoying something together that tastes good. And while we eat and enjoy tasty food, or when we gather to enjoy something that human beings enjoy, we bond more closely, and we bond more quickly. Interesting isn't it? Now after we have established a foundation with others in this way, THEN when we do have to work with one another, it's much more enjoyable because we know the person better. We have a sweet pattern of delightful experiences that truly can make working together become more delightful. There is always a catch though. We have to be careful to continue the delicate balance of delightful experiences and work. If we edge too much on the side of work with each other.....then the work begins to lose out. Our heart just isn't in it. Our heart isn't in any work that doesn't flow out from delightful relationship. And it was designed this way on purpose.
God is a God of rest. In fact, He invites us to enter His rest. He did work. He worked for six literal days creating the universe and everything in it. Even God Himself didn't really like work. He made sure to tell us He did it in six days. It was so He could get on into the beautiful part......relationship with us in His rest. If He was still working and working, we could never really connect with Him. He'd be too busy, too distracted. But He put an end to His work so He could give us all the gift of Himself fully engaged with us. That's why He created man last after the other work was done. He saved man until the last so the moment man was created, God would be undistracted.
Will we enter into His rest and in that rest, form the deep bonds of love with Him? Will He not give us the wisdom we so need to stay in His rest and recognize when we stray into working too much - overextending ourselves to the point of loss of the joy of relationship with Him? For when we get to stand before Him when our life here on this earth is finished, will we get to hear these precious words, "well done my good and faithful servant"? Or those dreadful words, "I never knew you."
The invitation to enter His rest still stands. He still says that today, if you hear His voice, don't harden your heart. He still invites all who are weary and heavy laden to come to Him and He will give you rest. You will need to let go the things that were so important to you before to realize the sweet and tender affection of love and roots of relationship with Him that can only go deeply when you do. It's in His rest that you form the indestructible joy of relational delight and out from there, out from that delight, He will direct your paths in love. There will be hard times. There will be work. But the delight of love with Him will carry you through. Try any other way and the tender cord of love will snap. Build your life with the right foundation. Enter into His rest. You will never be forgotten this way.
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