Finding Rest

It has been months since I have posted anything new to The Worn Tile Floor.  Last August (2011), I officially graduated with a Master of Arts in Theological Studies from Bethel Seminary in Saint Paul, MN.  At the same time, I was learning how to be the father of my now-eight-month-old son, Isaac.  As I was moving on from the grueling burden that seminary had become, I found that new, even more challenging responsibilities were rising up in its place.  Instead of doing homework, I was doing diapers.  Instead of reading scripture, I read Seuss.  Instead of books, I had baby.

Apparently there would be no break after graduating from seminary.  So I took a break from writing.

You’ve been there.  You’ve been in that place where you feel stretched to the point of breaking.  And, perhaps like me, you feel like you haven’t found rest in years.  Just as you think you might get relief, something new, something even bigger rises up to keep you toiling harder than ever.  It becomes exhausting and defeating.

Your life begins to look like a line at a busy amusement park.  If you’ve ever slowly slithered forward in an endless line at one of these parks, you know the fatigue that comes from feeling like you are stuck in place.  If you had been able to see the whole line before you’d committed to waiting there, you probably would have thought twice before slogging through an hour of your time just to enjoy two minutes of loop-de-loops.

But at the biggest parks, you never see the whole line at once.  As you creep forward in line, seeing it grow shorter and shorter in front of you, you start to think to yourself, This isn’t so bad . . . I’m almost there!  And then you turn a corner—and see row after row after row of people waiting in line ahead of you.  Uggh.

Of course, you’ve already waited for ten minutes.  You’d hate to back out now when the goal is only another fifteen minutes away (or so you think—until you round another corner).

Just as the amusement park line never seems to end, so the stresses of your life never seem to let up.  Just when you think you will have a break from the stress or from the drudgery, you turn a corner, and find a whole new set of troubles to weigh you down.  And when you finally do get that break you desire, it often may seem more like a two-minute thrill than a true rest.

For most of us, our two-minute thrills find us seeking entertainment rather than seeking life.  We end up spending our time rather than using it.  And then the moment is gone and the busy routine begins again.

And we never find rest.

That is one reason that it is truly refreshing to be a Christ-follower.  Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30).

Just as we find that we have more energy after we exercise (as counter intuitive as it may seem), so we find that as we take more of Jesus’ yoke upon ourselves, our loads actually become lighter.

Only through Christ do our two-minute loop-de-loops become refreshing rather than just distracting.  And only in Christ do our times of waiting become times of rest instead of just times of standing.

All who are weary: Seek rest.  And find it in Christ.