Slow Down

Lake Superior on a windy day looks as tumultuous as the ocean, the waves crashing against the craggy rocky shoreline.  However, on this day, I climbed the basalt shoreline, jumping across crevices, feeling the breeze through my hair, and hearing the waters crashing upon the same bedrock upon which I stood, and I felt the peace that comes from soaking in God's creation.  

As an educator, the summer has long meant time to settle, to rest and recover from the chaotic busyness of life during the school year.  These days, as an administrator, summers are still workdays but usually, the pace slows down enough to appreciate time for refueling and resting.  During a pandemic, however, my whole work-life balance has been upended as working from home has become a reality much of time and the slower pace of summer suddenly becoming a frantic neverending discussion of how to possibly begin school again in the fall with effective safety measures.  The stress and anxiety of decisions on a macro and micro level with long hours of meetings involving administration, school board, and community have turned summer into the least restful time of year.  

But, about now it's time to rest.  To slow down and to listen up.  To sit in silence and treasure the gifts God has sent my way - to be fully present in the moments where His voice whispers and I have to lean in hear, shutting out the crazy tilt-a-whirl of this world.  

A friend recently gifted me with one of Mark Buchanan's books:  The Rest of God.  I didn't know how desperately hungry I was for this message until I finally started to read it.  I've always been a person to treasure and prioritize my mornings with God and I'm pretty committed to leaving work at work so I thought I was doing ok with "rest" but as I've had time for self-reflection, I've discovered how deeply our souls long for sabbath rest.

I like to start the morning with a beautiful view as I sit in silence at His feet, listening for His voice.  This is a daily soaking in of His Word, and expressing gratitude for His presence in my life.  But then it's as if the bell rings and I rush off to the races, checking my email and texts almost compulsively, sure I'm going to miss something important if I close my computer for a few minutes.  The workload piles up, the questions to be answered, the problems to be solved are never-ending.  At the end of the day, I sometimes just collapse and wonder if it's time for bed yet.  Especially right now with the pressures of monumental decisions on my shoulders, the meetings upon meetings and reading, researching until my eyes are so weary I can hardly keep them open.  

Taking a whole day to rest in God's presence, to be restored, to play and enjoy His gifts, to slow down long enough to see Him...this sounds like an impossible gift.  Which is why God told us to "remember" the sabbath.  It's just too easy to keep up this crazy busy lifestyle, to rush here and there imagining that life won't go on if that work doesn't get done, as if rest is an extravagance I can't afford.  I needed to be reminded (thanks Mark Buchanan!) that God intended for us to rest at His feet, to listen for His voice, and to rejoice in Him.  The work I do is for His glory and the truth of the matter is, it doesn't rest on my shoulders at all - He's the one who is sovereign.  He is the one with the power to fix this world, not me.  When I sit at His feet, I feel my smallness and I remember who I am through His eyes.

It's like God is saying that He knows we need a mini-vacation every week.  He knows we need to take care of ourselves with healthy food, exercise, rest and a day away from the pressures of work.  He knows we forget that He is God and we are not.  And He knows we need time to process life, to connect with Him and to hear His voice, so He tells us "Remember..." 

Remember to slow down.  

Remember to take time to play with your kids. 

Remember to quiet your thoughts long enough to hear from God. 

 

Remember to express gratitude to the Creator for all His beautiful gifts.

Remember you are not really in control of anything.

Remember He loves you.