In Praise of Rest

Rest.

Am I ever falling in love with that word.  Just typing it, I can feel my shoulders fall away from my ears and my chest expand and my breathing deepen.  I actually had to rouse myself just now because I was staring off into space thinking about how good it felt.

I started writing about all the things that keep me from resting, but I deleted it because I'm thinking it's counterproductive.  I know why I don't rest.  I'm sure you know why you don't rest.  So tonight I think I'll do something different.  I'm going to take a few minutes to focus us on rest.

What is "rest"?  Taking a page from my pastor's book, I went to Merriam-Webster.  I am abridging.

1. Sleep.  (I wish that one had been last . . . if you take this too far, you won't get to the end of this post!)
2. Freedom from activity; a state of motionless.  How often do you just sit?  Not text.  Not read.  Not watch TV.  Just be.  I can't remember the last time.  Try it.  Now.  (I took two breaths and got nervous!  Sure sign I need to practice this one.)  
3. A place for resting.  Huh.  A designated place?  For resting apart from sleeping?  I don't have one.  My kids have a great tent in our living room . . . I may appropriate it!  
4. Peace of mind or spirit.  Ahhh . . . that is what I'm hankering for.  The ironic thing about this one is that the more you work at it, the less you achieve it.  "Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him ..." (Psalm 37:7).  "Wait" . . . sounds like sitting in a state of inactivity, doesn't it?  Allow God to provide what only He can in His own perfect time?  
5. A rhythmic silence in music.  Dr. Wiens, Wheaton College Concert Choir Director Extraordinaire, always stressed that the music was in the rests, not just in the notes.  Blowing through a rest would earn you his furrowed eyebrow, sideways scowl.  If all the notes ran together, there would be no music, there would be only cacophony.  (Although I confess to performing one or two pieces designed to create cacophony . . . !)  The point is, the music of our lives only makes sense in relation to rest.  
6. Something used for support.  

This last one hit me right between the eyes.  Back to Psalm 37:7: "Rest in the Lord."  Try to deceive ourselves as we will, our rest truly only comes from God.  It is only He who is big enough, powerful enough, merciful enough, loving enough, enough enough to rejuvenate our tired bodies and teach us to be still ("Be still and know that I am God," Psalm 46:10).

Psalm 37:7 also says, "Rest in the Lord."  What a huge difference between "in" and "on."  "On" implies two separate items, one atop the other, but both remaining distinct and disconnected.  "In" is altogether different.  "In" is one folding, wrapping, embracing, surrounding another.  The two are still distinct, but now they are also inseparable.

That is where the place for resting comes--in the Lord.  That is where peace of mind and spirit come--in the Lord.  In the Lord, the noise of the world gets silenced--just for a time--and transforms the babble into music.  In the Lord, we have all the support we will ever need for any and all trials and tribulations: something as big as a death or as small as a bad hair day.

In the Lord we can actually stop striving without fear, for we are not valued for our production but for our presence.  And at the end of it all, when we sleep in death, it truly will be a sleep . . . with a breathtaking awakening into true Communion with the Father.

Praying that you all find rest this day.