Rest on the mountain...and in the valley

      "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.5:9-11)
      We've been studying rest recently in Bible study--what a beautiful truth.  Because Christ said "It is finished!' we can rest in His death on the cross for us.  In the words of a Matt Papa song: "It is finished, it is done.  To the world salvation comes.  Hallelujah, we're alive!  Hell was silenced when You cried: It is finished."
      "It is finished" puts an end to our striving and straining, fretting and fussing.  We can rest in Him and what He has done.  And we can trust that He who has done it all for us in the past will also come through for us in the future as well.
      I love Sally Breedlove's definition of 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 what we need."
      Or as Dag Hammarskjold put it: "For all that has been: Thank You.  For all that is to come: Yes!"
      Can I just say that all too often, I'm not there.  Sigh.
      Too many anxious thoughts.  Too little gratitude.  Too much worrying.  Too little trusting.  Forgive me, Father.  But thank You that Your offer of rest still stands, no matter our failings and weaknesses.
      So as I sit here in the North Carolina mountains with most of our family, my refrain echoes that of Hammarskjold: Thank You, Father.
     Thank You for the astounding beauty of Your creation.  The colorful patchwork quilt of trees all around us.  The clouds heavy with life-giving water.  The green of the mountains and the blue of the valley.  A picture of rest all about us.

      And thank You, Lord, for the priceless gift of family.  Thank You for the joy of sitting around a dinner table with them--laughing, talking, simply savoring their presence.  To me, that's a wondrous picture of rest as well: to be surrounded by those you love while enjoying a great meal!  Just a tiny foretaste, don't you think, of the wedding supper of the Lamb?  That's rest--thank You, Father.
      Tomorrow we head back down the valley.  Back into the land of homework, chores, deadlines,  and older children scattering to their own homes.  And that's when those terrible tendencies arise that cause us to dread the busyness, to worry over the unknowns,  and to strive in our own weak strength.         But that's not rest.  Lord, help me to carry Your rest with me down the mountain.  Just as I carry the memories of one last hurrah savoring the mountains before the long slog of winter...just as I carry and treasure the joyous memory of our children right here with us rather than far away.  Your rest resides just as fully in the valleys of our lives as on the mountaintops, for You never change and neither does Your perfect rest.
      Father, teach us to rest. Teach us to trust that as the future becomes the present, You will supply all we need.  For You are forever faithful.
      Because "It is finished,"  we can rest...and trust...and shout a resounding "Yes" to whatever the future holds.  For we know the One holds the future...
      And we rest in You.
      To God be the glory.