Ben Wilson, LPC

He will quiet you with his love...Our call to rest

Are you Restless?

You know, when we rest less, we get Rest-less, which is an inability to rest, relax or be still. 

Sometimes my restlessness surfaces as…busyness. I’ll do just for ‘doing sake’. Instead of slowing down, I speed up.

Sometimes my restlessness surfaces as…distraction. I have difficulty focusing. I’m frequently late.

Sometimes my restlessness surfaces as…withdrawal. I only want to be by myself. I won’t call. I may not even answer my phone.

How does your restlessness surface? 

Are You Busy?

We are all ‘busy’, just ask someone how they’re doing…if they don’t say ‘fine’, it’s usually, ‘Okay, but I’m sooooo busy.’ It’s like we get into a competition to see who is busier. Are you aware that the Chinese symbol for busy is made by combining the strokes for ‘heart’ + ‘killing’? Are you killing your heart with busyness? I know I do at times.

Ben was watching The Last of the Mohicans one evening and I happened to sit with him at the scene when Hawkeye is about to leave Cora to be captured by the Indians. They are standing behind a waterfall and he says passionately to her: “You stay alive, no matter what occurs! I will find you. No matter how long it takes, no matter how far, I will find you.” I almost bawled, mind you I’d only been watching for about 10 minutes. I asked myself, ‘Why did this scene affect me so deeply?’ It was like I felt God saying the same to me: “Don’t kill your heart with busyness. Stay alive no matter what happens! I will find you. No matter how long it takes, no matter how far, I will find you.” And he says the same to you.

He says this because when we are ‘too busy’, we become unavailable not only physically, but we also become unavailable emotionally to those around us, and God typically gets left out, too. We don’t have time to connect with our own hearts to know what is going on in there. We have no time to share each others’ schedules much less connect on a deeper, more intimate level.

I am grateful that God divinely designed a Remedy for ‘busy’. He created a space for us called Sabbath. And the Hebrew word for Sabbath means rest. We focus on Sabbath rest every Sunday during these 444 Days of Healing from Infidelity for a reason. We need it. God ordains it. It is one of only 2 ‘Thou Shall’ commandments and the ONLY one that states that we should remember.

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Exodus 20:8

“All life requires a rhythm of rest. There is  a rhythm in our waking activity and the body’s need for sleep. There is a rhythm in the way day dissolves into night, and night into morning…In our bodies, the heart perceptibly rests after each life-giving beat; the lungs rest between the exhale and the inhale. We have lost this essential rhythm. Our culture invariably supposes that action and accomplishments are better than rest, that doing something – anything – is better than doing nothing. Because of our desire to succeed, to meet these ever-growing expectations, we do not rest. Because we do not rest, we lose our way. We miss the compass points that would show us where to go; we bypass the nourishment that would give us healing. We miss the quiet that would give us wisdom. We miss the joy and love born of effortless delight. Poisoned by this hypnotic belief that good things come only through unceasing determination and tireless effort, we can never truly rest. And for want of rest, our lives are in danger.”  “Without Rest, we respond from a survival mode, where everything we meet assumes a terrifying prominence.” ~ Wayne Mueller

What are the ‘habits of your heart’? Is there space for God in your busy mind, heart and schedule? Is your life in danger for lack of rest?

Join me the rest of this week as we explore His Call to Rest and how He quiets us with His Love.