I love the words of Jesus in Matthew 11:28 to 30, when He said so gently and passionately to people. "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." These are wonderful words of life! These are words that pierce the heart of those spiritually bankrupt as I was. These are words that cause me to slow things down!
There are times when I need help emotionally or spiritually just to walk through life. This reminds me of just a few years ago when my wife and I brought our grandson for his first pair of shoes. He was our first grandchild and I guess we spoiled him quite a bit. Since then we now have six grandchildren! We have taken all of them for their first pair of shoes when they begin to walk.
Since I was a young fella I have had a tendency to take on a lot in life. This caught up with me in 1997 when I experienced what is known as burn out. It wasn't fun! In time I recognized I needed some rest. I didn't listen to myself, my wife, or God and I paid for it! Even in the shadow of burn out it took me a few more years to slow things down.
I need to write! To do so, I need to walk, to rest, to slow things down. For me to not slow down means I cannot write. When I become encumbered by the cares of this life I am not resting in the rest found in Jesus. He in fact, is my rest! He is our rest! His rest is the relief one's soul needs. There is no one else to go to!
I'll say more about how well I'm doing with slowing things down in other posts. Until then my wonderful friends, make sure you take time to "rest"!
May you continue to rest in Him! And I love how you buy the first pair of shoes for grandchildren!
ReplyDeleteGod gave us a great example by taking a Sabbath rest... We need the down times in order to be productive int eh busy times.
ReplyDeleteWill do, Alan and look forward to more posts on this.
ReplyDelete"Since I was a young fella I have had a tendency to take on a lot in life. This caught up with me in 1997 when I experienced what is known as burn out." Oh my, Allan. I was exactly like this, and I didn't listen to anyone either. I've been a slow learner. We think God wants us to take care of everyone else, and he is asking us to love our neighbour as we would love ourselves. He invites us to come to him and find rest for our souls and he promises to share our burdens and take care of us.
ReplyDeleteWe have six grandchildren too--lovely people. I love your shoe story.
So true that we need to rest, that we need His rest. God commands it in fact. I hope you can balance and enjoy resting with grandparenting.
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