Casandra Martin

We live in a 24/7 world. We expect stores to be open, the internet to be accessible, and television to run its programming 24/7. There is tremendous pressure to be productive, prolific, and profitable all the time. Busyness is a sign of good business. We seem to comfort ourselves with full calendars, hectic agendas, and overcrowded days. Anything less than a packed, 24/7 kind of schedule is viewed with suspicion.

The result, however, is far from the grace-paced life designed for us by God. Stress and worry are the main hallmarks of our hearts. Exhaustion takes its toll as we try to push a little longer, stay up a little later, and make it all go a little farther. We work hard to keep everything under control, and even harder when it seems like things are spinning out of our hands.

Rest is a word filled with blessing. In rest, we learn to align our hearts with the rhythm of His grace. In quiet, we hear the cadence of His voice. In stillness, we experience the pulse of His heartbeat. Our souls are starved for rest. Our hearts crave the respite of His presence, and yet we push off rest, treating it like a burden rather than the blessing God intended for it to be.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” – Matthew 11:28-29

Twice in these two verses, Jesus makes a precious promise – rest. It is a recipe for simplicity in the midst of a complicated, fast-paced world. Come, take, and learn. Come to Jesus. Rest anywhere else is only an illusion. Take my yoke. Hold my hand, and walk in my presence. It is so much easier than the world of care and weariness that you are trying to carry on your own. Learn to live in the rhythm of my grace.

My Jesus Resolution today is to rest. Really rest. Today I am going to stop, soak in a few moments of stillness, and let quiet open my eyes and ears to His presence. Rest will mean changing the pace of my life, the rhythm of my heart, and the cadence of my soul. Stopping will put me out of sync with the world, but in tune with God. In rest, I may just find the melody that my heart has been too busy to hear or sing.