Running while resting

It’s sounds like an oxymoron huh? 

I was listening to a podcast on resting while running on my treadmill.  I kind of laughed a little at the irony.  But, I really was resting.  I have recently found after a long day of work and being a single mom of a teenager that I have loved unwinding by running at night.

True story.

Sometimes resting means taking a break from certain things so you can focus on other things.  Resting actually really looks like productivity.  Society tells us differently.  Let’s be honest, “church” can tell us differently.  Learn the word NO if you need to.

Let’s look at Leviticus 26:34-35. “Then at last the land will enjoy its neglected Sabbath years as it lies desolate while you are in exile in the land of your enemies.  Then the land will finally rest and enjoy the Sabbaths it missed. As long as the land lies it ruins, it will enjoy the rest you never allowed it to take every seventh year while you lived in it.”

After reading this verse I had the thought that I wonder if sometimes God designs not-so-fun-circumstances that force us to rest because He knows what is best for us.  I had never thought of unfortunate circumstances and rest going together.

Busy bodies are counter-productive if they never take a season of rest.  (Or juggling so many things all might be checked off the list but none done “well”) A day every week for rest is what God demonstrated in Genesis 2.  He didn’t need it.  It was an example for us to follow.  It is productive.

A garden needs to rest after season to season to maintain healthy soil.  A tired soil doesn’t produce as good of a crop as a healthy one. 

Let me encourage you to ask God in what areas do you need to take a rest?  A few years ago I rested from all things in life except work and my son.  I just sought out as much possible time as I could with Jesus.  Oh, what a year.  I had to force myself to train my brain to sit out on lots of “stuff.” 

IT WAS WORTH IT. 

I sought Him out constantly and I was quiet long enough for Him to plant a seed deep within me.  He watered it.  And it grew.  It would take a whole blog post just to tell you all the fruit that has been produced from that year.  It still continues.

REST.  Try it!

New Year's Letter

I wanted to share a beautiful letter a friend of mine wrote for the new year.  I hope you are encouraged as I was.  Please enjoy this guest post from Dawn.

Never before have I written a New Year’s letter but, I felt compelled to do so. Winter season to winter season, New Year to New Year leaves many to reflect the events of the coming year. How can I improve self? And we all know it requires action to make change.

As I walked into church today, I was looking at the landscaping foliage that was cold, brown, brittle, lifeless, and dead by all appearances. Yet look again. Berries left over from bountiful days. Petals in a state of withering and decayed suspended in time. This seems to bring a feeling of despair of a loss of days gone by that was full of life, warm, and hope.

I saw something new in the frozen foliage today. New life dormant in the snow and ice waiting to emerge at the first on-slot of the suns warm rays and a gentle spring rains. Life again will spring forth. The foliage will spring up green tender life again, new buds, berries, and flowers. They will sway in the warm breezes of spring and brighten my walk into church with color and life once again.
Life sometimes feels this way: cold and dormant.

Today a gentle reminder from God was given. He said, that there is life waiting under the cold, ice, and snow. This year’s events many times felt to me like that cold seemly dead plant life I saw.

But, I feel a warm gentle breath of God, healing rains, and a son’s light and love awakening my roots. 

Activating life.
 
I will graduate this year, gain employment, and emerge a stronger version of self.

Happy 2013 New Year and may you experience joy, gain hope, and feel God’s restoring love!!