Rest

I sit here, at 1:30 in the morning, just finishing up some studying. I have finals next week and I'm already feeling exhausted and tired. That's a scary feeling, going into finals and knowing that I'm tired. I'm feeling unsure if I'll be able to give my final papers, projects and exams all I've got because I don't know if I'll be able to perform at my best. Don't get me wrong, I'm going to try my hardest but I know going into it that it's going to be difficult the next 2 weeks and I am so looking forward to a rest when it's over.

Today, I had a moment of rest and it was beautiful. A moment before our staff meeting that we rested in God. Nobody was talking or sharing or praying out loud yet but we were resting in God's presence and it was extremely refreshing. It got me through the rest of my day, evening, night and it got me here, now. One of my favorite passages in the Bible talks about rest.

Matthew 11:28-30
"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me-watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

Doesn't that sound nice? Resting with God. Not being lazy, not neglecting your work, but living right beside God, learning, working and resting all in Him. I forget this, it's one of my favorite passages and I forget this. I wake up and it's all go, go, go from there...typically because I wake up late and am rushing to get to class on time. Then I'm in a hurry to get to lunch, then a hurry to get to work, then a hurry to dinner or a research group meeting or this or that. But today, I got to spend a moment in rest and it was perfect. I think I may need to make resting a part of my regular devotional time. I usually pray, read, study, meditate on something...but rest will be an interesting new habit for my devotionals. I'm really looking forward to it and hopefully it will flood into the rest of my life and become an all the time habit of resting in God.