Are You Getting Your Rest?
Across the world, people use the summer months for R&R. Rest and relaxation seem to go hand-in-hand with this time of year – although I suspect that our brothers and sisters in the Southern Hemisphere might view things differently. For them, the longest, warmest and brightest days of the year occur from December through March. Our winter is their summer, and vice versa.
That’s important because in the difference is a lesson. The need to “decompress” isn’t tied to weather patterns, temperatures or hours of sunlight in a given day. It’s something we all need – pretty much all the time.
Jesus recognized that. He offered us the best, most wonderful rest we could imagine. It’s available 24/7/365 if we simply turn to him.
From the Gospel reading for this Sunday (July 2), the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
Honestly, many of us bring those anxious feelings related to laboring and being burdened upon ourselves. We do it because our culture bombards us with messages founded in the concept that we are in control of our lives.
We’re not; we never have been – none of us.
In my opinion, there is no easier way to find the peace of mind and rest that Jesus offers us in the Gospel than by fully embracing the notion that we are not in control. Surely, you’ve heard it a million times … let go and let God. Jesus is saying that in Matthew 11:28, albeit more eloquently than what we have made into a cliché.
Don’t misunderstand; I’m not suggesting that we bear no responsibility for our lives. We are responsible for any number of things – paying bills and taking care of children immediately come to mind – but that doesn’t mean those kinds of responsibilities give us control.
Those responsibilities don’t reflect how we control our lives. They reflect how we use our free will. We can choose to pay bills … or not. We can choose to take care of our children … or not. Those decisions – and others like them – come with consequences that are good or bad, depending on the choices we make.
None of them reflect our control of our lives; not really. They reflect our use of our free will and our ability to do the right things in a variety of situations.
Don’t glorify those kinds of responsibility-related decisions, making them into “evidence” that you are in control. You’re not.
Choose to acknowledge and embrace that lack of control. Believe that God will provide for your needs – regardless of whether those needs include all of your wants.
All of you reading these words who labor and are burdened – or are feeling burdened – go to Jesus. He will, indeed, give you rest.
