I had to chuckle as one of my teammates began praying over me the other night.
“Slow her down God.”
It is true. It seems that I cannot stop going. I work and work and go and go until I am dead, and then maybe I’ll stop for a breather then I’ll keep going some more. It seems I don’t know how to rest. I find that even on rest days I am more busy than ever.
Last month in Cambodia we were busy. Towards the end of the month a teammate asked me what I wanted to grow in the last three months. After I thought about it a while I finally said, “I’m tired.” I realized that sometimes I put a lot more on my shoulders than God asks me to.
God used a little image in mind to help me better understand what it looks like to rest in Him. I imagined I was sitting at this big table. It was covered with a bunch of different foods. It is a feast! There is corn on the cob, grilled chicken, baked beans, pineapple, hamburgers, chips and salsa (and don’t forget the guacamole!) and at the far end is a cheesecake with strawberries on top! I am sitting at this table with my plate, which is empty. I am hungry, so I begin to fill my plate. I little bit of this, a little bit of that. I want to try a little bit of everything at the table but pretty soon I look at the plate before me and see a heaping pile of food that I must now eat. I don’t know if I will be able to fit all of it into my stomach. I try to eat everything. Most of my plate is empty but towards the last few bites of cheesecake, I have to give up. My stomach was just not made to fit all that food.
This is what my life looks like when I don’t rest in Him.
God showed me another image. This time I was sitting at the table and instead of helping myself, I see God taking the spoon and adding to my plate. He is wise and knows just the amount to place on my plate. He didn’t add too much or too little. It was the perfect amount.
When I allow God to do the serving, I will never get burnt out or grow weary. I think this is what it means to truly rest in Him. I try to fill my plate to max capacity because I have learned that in the worlds eyes being busy is looked upon as being productive. So in my “world view” I try to please the world by putting unrealistic expectations on myself that I need to be always busy in order to matter.
This is not what the Father has in mind for His children. He is a good Father and His yoke is light.
In closing, here is a verse that He gave me the other day.
“Unless the Lord builds a house, the builder’s work is useless, unless the Lord protects a city, sentries do no good. It is senseless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, fearing you will starve to death; for God wants his beloved ones to get there proper rest.” Psalm 127:1-2
