Finding rest is hard work.
Your mind and flesh will fight against you. First you must overcome inertia; leave
comfort and the known. I had to return a
bunch of phone calls from home this morning.
I have to fix a leaking shower head.
I want to hang Christmas lights.
Instead I got in the car to go hike.
Enroute my body told me it craves a hamburger. I’d eaten lunch; didn’t need food. I told it I would feed it later. Once on the trail there came the jumble of
thoughts. I’d come to rest. I’d come to just be; to experience time with
Jesus. The mind fights that.
Rest isn’t a thing the mind does readily. Amusement—yes; the 10 hours the average
American spends in screen time. Quiet
resting though is a discipline. I found
myself praying for stuff; planning my vacations, blocking out my work
week. I had to actively bring thought
back to God; to meditation, to quiet the hum.
I don’t think the rattle of thoughts is a bad thing. Perhaps it calls attention to the state of
your heart. Having set aside being busy
at home my mind was trying to busy itself with thought. I found I had to focus on the now. I told my lungs to breathe deep. I stood beside a pool and noticed moisture on
the sides of the bank; the dry leaves still clinging for it hadn’t been wet
enough to wash them downward. The thoughts
continued as I strove to order them.
I saw no visions. I
didn’t find the perfect zone. Still it’s
amazing that as thinking creatures we can seek stillness---that we can wrestle
with thought and gray matter to bring it into a place of quiet. To order our thoughts around meditation and
quiet; to focus on God and to listen for Him---and to Him. Still most amazing is that an infinite God
reveals Himself; and allows Himself to be found.
