I hear her words often: “The only words that really matter are the ones that we live.”

Over and over lately God has been telling me in different ways: there is permission to rest.

We work too. Work is a gift, a calling, a way of both being with God and of honoring Him. Work is important.

But most of us have to keep circling back to learn the same lessons again and again in new circumstances, each time at a deeper level. For me, one of those lessons is how to rest in God. What I’ve been learning about rest during these past three years of disability, I’m now having to re-learn in the context of being given a little more to do. I too easily find myself slipping back into habits of drivenness, trying to take on what God alone wants to carry.

These days, my heart is again longing for rest. And Jesus’ call remains unchanged: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will rest you.” Rest isn’t something He gives that we take away and enjoy. Rest is something He does for us, to us. Something that only happens in His arms.

I write about rest. It means nothing if I don’t also seek to live it. So this space will be quiet for the next couple of weeks as I head off for some intentional rest and family time, out of reach of the internet.

Whatever these next weeks hold for you, whether hard work or busy family times or quiet space, may you experience the deep soul rest that Jesus offers. I look forward to being back with you in early September.

(If you, like me, struggle to rest, you might enjoy Mark Buchanan’s “The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath.” He digs deep into the rest that is offered to us, and is helping me learn how to have “a Sabbath heart, not just a Sabbath day.” (p. 4) Highly recommended!)