Resting

     Our oldest daughter sent us a text with this message and picture: "Remember when Bing would sleep like this?"--

     As a little puppy, Bingley loved his crate, and whenever he was sleepy, he'd head on in there for a good, relaxing snooze...so relaxing, in fact, that he would oftentimes fall sound asleep with his head hanging out of the crate.  It hurts my neck to think about it, but he seemed perfectly content in all possible napping positions.
     When I got my daughter's text, I immediately took a picture of Mr. B today--this very minute, in fact--as a big, gangly 8 month old lab.  This is how he looks now--

     Bingley wouldn't be able to fit his head in that old crate--but he still snoozes just as peacefully.  Give the boy a walk and some food, and he's good to go...especially to dreamland.
     All this canine resting and relaxing has me asking my Heavenly Father to teach me how to rest in Him.  Frankly, true spiritual rest is not one of my specialities...that's probably the case for a lot of us.  We're so busy trying to be better parents (a great and noble thing), to be more loving and encouraging wives or husbands (fabulous), to get as healthy as we can by being physically
active--so we can be better parents and spouses! (a good goal), to strengthen our friendships (so important), to pray and read the Bible more (well, duh--number 1 on the list).
     But then you've got to add to all that--clean out clutter, read more books, deliver graduation presents, cook nutritious family meals (ha!), weed the garden (double ha!), get totally and forever caught up on the laundry (seriously?), write those notes you've been meaning to write, wash the dog, stop complaining and start thanking, go through all your old emails (or alternatively go have a root canal, which might be more fun), finish all those projects you've been meaning to get to at work and at home, volunteer (in all your spare time)...
     It's exhausting trying to be a better person, isn't it?  
     Yes, Bingley may have cornered the market on resting and relaxing, but his "family" (or at least his type A "mom") has a long way to go in learning what it truly means to rest.  I'm reading a lot about rest in Hebrews, and I admit that I've got a loooong way to understanding it, much less doing it.
     But one thing I'm learning is that God wants us to rest in Him...and resting also involves trusting and obeying.  "Again He appoints a certain day, 'Today,' saying through David...'Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.'  For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on.  So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from His.  Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience." (Heb.4:7-11)
     Resting clearly has a lot to do with how we handle today.  As in today.  God gives us today to hear His voice and to heed His voice.  And when we hear and heed the still, small voice of God, we will find rest.  We need to hear and heed His voice commanding that we stop worrying and start worshipping. Stop grumbling and start thanking.  Stop looking around and start looking up.  Stop procrastinating and start obeying.  Stop fretting and start trusting.
      But if we refuse?  If we hear His voice, but ignore...or hear, but make excuses...or hear, but are too busy and preoccupied...or hear, but flat out disobey...or if we refuse to even listen to His voice--the result will inevitably be restlessness.  Restless rebellion.  Restless joylessness.  Restless worry.  Restless discontentment.
     That's simply no way to live.  And that's not the life Christ died to give us.  No, Jesus came to give us life...and life to the full.  John put it this way, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.  I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." (John10:10)
     I wrote something in my Bible from Sally Breedlove on rest: "At it's core, to rest is to give thanks for the present and to trust that, as the future becomes the present, God will supply whatever we need."  
     Yes, that's resting in God--thankfulness and trust in the present and resting in the faith that God will supply what we need tomorrow when it's tomorrow.  What He's chosen to provide for today is enough for today...and He will give us what we need tomorrow.  Whether it's hope or peace or joy or energy or wisdom.  Today is the day we must choose to listen for His voice, to obey what we hear, and then to rest in His plans and provisions.
     Today's the day to rest in Him.  Oh Father, teach us to listen, to trust, and to rest.  To God be the glory.