Lenten Rest (2018)
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Rest. That seems to be a dream for many these days. The world is full of busyness. The various forms of media, the internet, activities of various sorts, all seem to keep us from resting. Even weekends are now almost as full as the work week. There is a growing need to fill all they supposed emptiness.
Emptiness is not always what it seems. Is the glass half full, or half empty? This is the question of optimism versus pessimism. What if the better question is, what is the glass full of? In normal circumstances, a glass is always full. Is it filled halfway with water, then the remainder is filled with air. The glass is full, we just are blind to what it is full of.
People look at a glass that is not 100% filled, and feel the need to fill it. Some feel such a drive to fill the glass, that keep pouring into it until it overflows. There is no rest there. Imagine trying to pickup a glass completely full to the top with water to try to drink from it. Most of the time, you're going to spill some water. The gap—the so-called unfilled part—allows the water to move with the glass, and you don't spill.
When people keep going, and going, and going, and going, and going, at some point everything turns to chaos, or the breakdown, or they get sick. God did not intend us to keep going. Even the earth was supposed to be given a break from growing food.
Lent can act as a disruptor of our busy lives—not so that we cannot do things, or get things done—but so that we are jolted out of our busy habits, in hopes that we might reflect upon what is important.
When entering the Sabbath Rest, it is different than taking a nap or a vacation. It is a place and time where we are fully present with God, so that God fills as we need, and as he wants us to be. This rest is where we release our expectations to God. When we allow God to outline his expectations, we will often find that his expectations are far less than ours, but that his fulfill our needs, desires, and wants far more than our finite understanding.
1) Do you set aside time each day, week, month, year to "sit" with God? If not, why not?
2) Why do you think we struggle in resting?
3) While the world tries to create more labor-saving things and techniques, it seems that there is less time. Why do you think that is?