When you are forced to rest ...

Learning about this today -- #happynewyearseve

A photo posted by pearlstheword (@pearlstheword) on Dec 31, 2015 at 10:11am PST

Well, it is the last day of the year.  I have been sick at home for the last two days with a stubborn head cold that doesn't seem to be letting up. It's times like these, times when I am confined to my little home, with the sunlight gently streaking along the walls, as the love birds sing (ie, scream) and my little bulldog sleeping on the couch, that I am reminded of what "rest" should be.

There is some semblance of peace here, and for me— amid the sneezing, running nose and trips to the bathroom, to blow said nose— I am forced to quiet myself, make another cuppa tea and rest.

Maybe I am getting older (maybe, lol, for real I am!) but I find myself asking this question a lot :

"what is this world coming to?"

It seems like an "old person question" because I can remember talks with my grandparents and they would remark the same thing, with some quiet, yet relented despair in their voices, like they had given up on the generation, but were still seeking some kind of answer.

I feel a bit in the same position.

It doesn't take much, as "information" is EVERYWHERE now. Especially in places you don't want it to be. We are assaulted with headlines of death, kidnappings, road rage, bombs, terrorist this and thats, and it becomes numbing in a way, and through this numbing, to gain more attention, to gain that "15 mins of fame", we resort to more shock and less awe, until we only feed on that which makes us sicker in the head, and (an unspoken) longing for ... well ... rest.

The bible has quite a bit to say about rest, and sometimes I am certain that my physical body comes crashing to a halt because the Lord is gently whispering to me "enough running, striving, seeking and working ... bring yourself to be still". It's true coming through the Christmas Season, and the "harvest" season of autumn before that, my body and mind has been racing, preparing, rehearsing, struggling and striving— and, if I were going to be brutally honest, worrying — through my days.  And I believe that He has sustained me through it, but, rather ironically at the end of this season, this year, the Lord in His grace, has called me to rest.

Matthew 11:28

²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

He gives us this promise (among others) that HE will give us rest

Isaiah 40:31

³¹ but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; (see below)
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.

I find it interesting the King James version of the above verse says "they shall mount up with wings as eagles" Mounting up, to me calls to mind something like "being fitted with armor", or preparation. The eagle's wings allow him to soar, this is what our hope in the Lord is.

So, all that to say that there are seasons of work, seasons of growth, seasons of harvest and seasons of rest, to everything there is a turn, it's the natural order of events—and I believe His order— so that we can bear fruit in season, and then be pruned to rest, in season. And this world is so out of control, so seemingly absent of good, how can we not turn to our Father, and seek rest.

Isaiah 43:18-19

¹⁸ “Don't think of the former things, neither consider the things of old.

¹⁹ Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

 This new years eve will be so very different from last, and I am so ever thankful. He does a new thing, every morning really. I am being called to rest, to reflect, to take inventory and "mount up" for what is ahead. Where are you at?

Happy New Years ~
Till Next Blog ~ love, a.