Rest for the Weary

Been going and going, staying busy. Staying activated and agitated, chasing this and that. Chasing the other thing. There’s always that other thing to chase. I didn’t catch up to it yesterday, or the day before. Been after it for a long time. For a lifetime. I don’t think I’m any closer than I was before. Always moving, never arriving. Always going, never there.

My mind is a muddle of have to’s and need to’s and want to’s. My heart is heaving from the effort to simply live. I’m out of breath, out of the Breath of the Spirit, out of energy. Empty. I’m sleepless and sleepy, poorly fed and hungry, dry and thirsty. I’m lost and lonely, looking . . . looking . . . looking.

Life is speeding by me like the countryside speeds by the goer in his car, on the train, on the bus. I know there is beauty there. I can see it blurring by, yellows and reds and greens, but it’s ill-defined and unclear. I see all the colors but no single flower. There is no time to stop and smell the roses. The beauty is there, but not for me. I’m on the move, on my way, on my own.

On my own.

It’s the worst place in the world to be. On one’s own. So I keep moving, hoping I’ll arrive somewhere where I am not alone. Lonely. Looking. The movement becomes the thing. The motion becomes the goal. And so I move. Day after day, without rest. I move. Never stopping. Never arriving.

No wonder God said rest. The way forward is to stop and rest. Abide. Remain. I cannot get where I want to go as long as I insist on moving by myself, under my own power. But God says he can get me there, where I want to be, if I make my destination him.

“Come to me . . .” Wherever you want to go, come to me! Do you want Heaven? Come to me! Do you need comfort? Come to me. Are you hurting, seeking healing? Come to me! Broken? Battered? Heart-sick? Come to me!

I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28, 29).