My Place Of Rest
One of my favorite places I’ve ever been is an island off of the city of Sarasota Florida. It’s a little island and appropriately called Lido Key. The place we stay is on the Gulf of Mexico and steps from our room. It’s a place of long walks alone, quiet moments to view the glorious sunsets and there aren’t crowds of people. It’s a restful place. When I’m at rest, I’m aware of so much more than just stresses of life....those deadlines, the pressing needs, the pressures, the call of those old habits that want to fit onto my daily routine like a long, loose garment worn by a member of a religious order (also called a habit). Habit is a daily practice and wants to cover me like a garment.
Rest. My favorite places are the ones that have allowed me to rest. And in that place of rest, I’ve been able to get out of habit. I’ve found it to be a freeing experience. Walking the waters edge at any time of day, searching for bits of shell treasure, creating food fitting for a beach experience. Listening in the quiet alone time. It’s MY place of rest. It’s where I feel free and creative juices flow.
There is a place that I’ve also found where this kind of experience happens. It’s in Christ’s rest. It’s a real place. I don’t know how often over my years that I have read about Christ’s rest and my heart would ask questions and has been so intrigued. Especially when I’ve been brought up in a tight and religious home. I felt like someone had put a habit on me. A habit of religion - that loosely fitting garment worn by members of a religious order. But mine wasn’t loose fitting. It was tight and choking the life out of me. Thankfully, my Mom made me read the Bible a lot. And although I heard one thing from those around me, I heard something completely different from the heart of God as I read HIS words. There was a ring of freedom in His Words. There was encouragement and tenderness in them. There was an invitation to take off the heavy cloak and come to Him and rest. But how? How was this to happen when all around me, every single person was preaching the opposite through their actions and attitudes? No one was living like they were in Christ’s rest. Everyone was striving for religious advancement, chasing this thing and that, looking at the lives of others and focusing on the bad (myself included). Where was this sweet and beautiful rest I was reading about?
I’m such a knucklehead. Streaming with the crowd and trying to fit in with all the noise and hubbub. Trying to imitate the more deeply spiritual of ones I admired here and there. How that kind of thing fades rather quickly. You realize soon enough that people are flawed and there is no one (and I mean no one), who is going to love you like you need loved. Searching for love in all the wrong places. Even in the religious world, people are searching for love and a place to rest. But no matter how hard we search, we strive, we imitate...there is nothing and no one that will fulfill the inner call of the place of rest God has for us.
He took me. Away. Alone. There was no one I knew. There was none of the usual comforts and all the things I clung to were gone. It was all gone. All my dreams and ambitions had been stripped away. Everything I tried to make happen just slipped through my hands like water. There was no one to comfort me in all of it. In fact, no one really understood. But in this place, there was God. His Fellowship was so sweet. He was there to wipe every tear. He sat with me as I sobbed. He gave me music when I sat with my instrument alone. He strengthened my resolve and purpose for each day. He let me see that all the stuff I’d cried for all my life He had put inside of me and I saw it. It’s hard to know how strong you are when everything is easy. It’s hard to see how His qualities are displayed when life is just peachy. But how about when there is nothing and no one? Can we be His most precious people full of His Life and Love when we are in the lowest place? Can you walk with a smile on your face knowing you are deeply loved when you won’t have a single soul to point anything out or given accolades and back slaps?
Ah, sweet rest. It was never in this or that. It was never in fulfilling my dreams or chasing the winds of ambition or having religious ducks in a row. It was never in having a fan club or gathering the pleasures of this world to myself.
This came to realization in the midst of having nothing. There wasn’t an extra dime to my name. There was no friends, no family, no fame, no ambition. It was in my lowest lowest time of my life where I found the greatest treasure. A Friend. The Best. And no matter where I go, I’m at home in Him. I’ve found my rest.
Sometimes I’m tempted and I falter. Ambition tries to knock at my door. It wants to share my heart. Sometimes pressures of the religious crowd wants me to pick up that old, tight-fitting habit. But I can’t go back now. Being in His Rest is likened to that beautiful place I love on the Gulf of Mexico. Why would I want to be anywhere else?
Embrace the hard seasons. You are never really alone. Life wants to make you think that you are or will be, so you rush into things and flail to fill that gap that is widening. The gap (The separation God is so working in you from the world and it’s ways) - let it widen. Let it widen until the distance between what was is so wide, you can never find your way back. And there you’ll find God and you’ll fall into Him in the sweetest desperation. And He’ll be your all. There is your place of rest beloved. His Rest is a place. He is your home.
Rest. My favorite places are the ones that have allowed me to rest. And in that place of rest, I’ve been able to get out of habit. I’ve found it to be a freeing experience. Walking the waters edge at any time of day, searching for bits of shell treasure, creating food fitting for a beach experience. Listening in the quiet alone time. It’s MY place of rest. It’s where I feel free and creative juices flow.
There is a place that I’ve also found where this kind of experience happens. It’s in Christ’s rest. It’s a real place. I don’t know how often over my years that I have read about Christ’s rest and my heart would ask questions and has been so intrigued. Especially when I’ve been brought up in a tight and religious home. I felt like someone had put a habit on me. A habit of religion - that loosely fitting garment worn by members of a religious order. But mine wasn’t loose fitting. It was tight and choking the life out of me. Thankfully, my Mom made me read the Bible a lot. And although I heard one thing from those around me, I heard something completely different from the heart of God as I read HIS words. There was a ring of freedom in His Words. There was encouragement and tenderness in them. There was an invitation to take off the heavy cloak and come to Him and rest. But how? How was this to happen when all around me, every single person was preaching the opposite through their actions and attitudes? No one was living like they were in Christ’s rest. Everyone was striving for religious advancement, chasing this thing and that, looking at the lives of others and focusing on the bad (myself included). Where was this sweet and beautiful rest I was reading about?
I’m such a knucklehead. Streaming with the crowd and trying to fit in with all the noise and hubbub. Trying to imitate the more deeply spiritual of ones I admired here and there. How that kind of thing fades rather quickly. You realize soon enough that people are flawed and there is no one (and I mean no one), who is going to love you like you need loved. Searching for love in all the wrong places. Even in the religious world, people are searching for love and a place to rest. But no matter how hard we search, we strive, we imitate...there is nothing and no one that will fulfill the inner call of the place of rest God has for us.
He took me. Away. Alone. There was no one I knew. There was none of the usual comforts and all the things I clung to were gone. It was all gone. All my dreams and ambitions had been stripped away. Everything I tried to make happen just slipped through my hands like water. There was no one to comfort me in all of it. In fact, no one really understood. But in this place, there was God. His Fellowship was so sweet. He was there to wipe every tear. He sat with me as I sobbed. He gave me music when I sat with my instrument alone. He strengthened my resolve and purpose for each day. He let me see that all the stuff I’d cried for all my life He had put inside of me and I saw it. It’s hard to know how strong you are when everything is easy. It’s hard to see how His qualities are displayed when life is just peachy. But how about when there is nothing and no one? Can we be His most precious people full of His Life and Love when we are in the lowest place? Can you walk with a smile on your face knowing you are deeply loved when you won’t have a single soul to point anything out or given accolades and back slaps?
Ah, sweet rest. It was never in this or that. It was never in fulfilling my dreams or chasing the winds of ambition or having religious ducks in a row. It was never in having a fan club or gathering the pleasures of this world to myself.
This came to realization in the midst of having nothing. There wasn’t an extra dime to my name. There was no friends, no family, no fame, no ambition. It was in my lowest lowest time of my life where I found the greatest treasure. A Friend. The Best. And no matter where I go, I’m at home in Him. I’ve found my rest.
Sometimes I’m tempted and I falter. Ambition tries to knock at my door. It wants to share my heart. Sometimes pressures of the religious crowd wants me to pick up that old, tight-fitting habit. But I can’t go back now. Being in His Rest is likened to that beautiful place I love on the Gulf of Mexico. Why would I want to be anywhere else?
Embrace the hard seasons. You are never really alone. Life wants to make you think that you are or will be, so you rush into things and flail to fill that gap that is widening. The gap (The separation God is so working in you from the world and it’s ways) - let it widen. Let it widen until the distance between what was is so wide, you can never find your way back. And there you’ll find God and you’ll fall into Him in the sweetest desperation. And He’ll be your all. There is your place of rest beloved. His Rest is a place. He is your home.
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