New Sayings
Matthew 11:28 ESV
Straight chillin’ (relaxing)
I don’t know a person on the planet under the age of 66 who doesn’t want rest…real rest. I think that’s because today’s workforce is crazy performance based.
I’ve been retired for three years and I remember the requirements, the goals, and the pressure associated with every daily task. It was non-stop and even “breaks” were stressful because there was often a lot to do in 15 minutes. Often during that time I had a phone call to make to schedule an appointment or to obtain needed information.
Because of my own experience and because I studied the importance of “rest” in graduate school and the benefits for our brain, I firmly believe as a people we are faced with burnout.
In addition to workforce stress many families are faced with equal stress at home. Allow me to explain. I raised four children. In seven years I had four children (no twins or triplets). They all have children of their own now.
Many years ago when they were in school each child planned what activities they chose to participate in. For the most part, each child did one activity for every season. It wasn’t a hard fast rule, but we did advise them to choose carefully.
Academic performance was a priority for them. We did not set that as a goal, but we did advise if they want college scholarships that would help with costs. They all chose to excel academically.
Even though we were busy, I’d say it still does not compare with todays standard of participation. While that is not always the case, there are families now that operate in hyperdrive after school and on weekends. I do not know how they do it!
Because we are busy we NEED to stop the hamster wheel regularly to get off.
We desperately need to chill out. Straight chillin’!
Matthew 11:28 says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
That was written in the 1st Century before after school activities, sports practice, choir events, and play practice.
Jesus said that even before modern day culture went into hyperdrive. Even then, Jesus recognized our need to rest.
Looking back to the time period when my children were in school, for ten years we lived in a town of 1500 people. The elementary school and the high school was right down the street from our house. The junior high school was a few minutes away by car. There was no traffic…ever.
We didn’t have to deal with crowded roadways or long lines to drop our children off and pick them up.
Crime was pretty much non-existent.
Everywhere my children went was completely safe.
If they walked somewhere in town and had a problem they could have gone up to any house (ANY house) and they would have been given care. Everyone in town knew them by name. They knew their grade level in school.
To my knowledge no child was ever attacked when they walked any place in town.
Everyone knew which church people attended. They were either Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Christian Church, Presbyterian, or Full Gospel (etc.).
That’s just the way it was then and there.
Because I grew up in a major metropolitan city, I was somewhat skeptical about safety issues. My two older sons once wanted to walk a mile to go fishing and I offered to take them to the small river.
They wanted to walk and they said they didn’t need their “mommy” to drive them. So, I made a phone call to a neighbor down the street to ask if that was “safe”. My retired friend laughed and told me they would be perfectly fine. He said it was safe for them go fishing by themselves.
Looking back, we thought we had stress. It was nothing compared to life today. Every week brings new tragedies now.
Life is scary.
We desperately need rest but our culture doesn’t make those allowances. The majority of people do not know how to rest. Even people who go to church are busy at church and for the most part they are not taught how to rest.
There might be a few who go to yoga or meditation classes but even that is rare. The kind of rest Jesus proposed meant resting IN God. It meant connecting to the source of life and giving our worries and concerns to God. Jesus’ intent was that we will leave our cares and concerns in God’s capable hands. It requires surrendering everything to God.
Jesus wants us to stop carrying everything life throws at us. Jesus wants to carry it FOR us.
Jesus wants us to let go of every problem, every question, and every fear.
Spiritual Practice: Let Go
Find a quiet place.
Imagine your concerns, fears, and questions.
Name each one.
Lay them at the cross and then receive God’s rest. Breath deeply. Breathe in and out slowly. Let Jesus fill you up with peace, joy, and love. Do not time the exercise. Time is irrelevant. Stay in that place until you have completely relaxed and you have received power from the Spirit.
Be at peace.
In God, Deborah
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