Swimming Upstream
“As with God's grace, rest is never a reward; it's a gift.”
Rich Villodas
Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest.
MATTHEW 11:28 MSG
We live in a culture that prizes fast-paced living, measurable results, and worships at the altar of productivity. For those of us for whom this way of being in the world, chafes at our souls, the struggle to live differently is no less a burden to navigate. Even when we don't want to embrace this way of living, we are still a fish, swimming in the same mad-rapid river as everyone else. The only difference is, resisting this way of frenetic living, requires you to swim upstream.
And swimming upstream requires strength, and endurance. It requires a spirit of holy resistance. It requires intention.
INTENTION ALWAYS BEGINS WITH ATTENTION.
In his book, The Deeply Formed Life, author, Rich Villodas writes,
“We live in a legalistic world that says, ‘If you want to res, you better work.’ In other words, work first, then rest. Because this is the order of our culture, we often believe that Sabbath is a reward for hard work. People who think along these lines believe that the only way to deserve a Sabbath is by working until they have no energy left. They often think of grace in the same terms, as if God's favor is something one should strive to be deserving of; that is, you've been given it, now earn it."
The trouble many of us face is that much of the time, we aren't even aware of how this idea of rest as a reward, or grace that must be earned, has infiltrated our lives, and our souls.
Our work is to discern how we are living, to pay attention to the cultural constructs we've put on, and trade those constricting garments out for the gentle garments of Grace. The biggest irony of our time is that we believe that living as the world demands is the path to freedom, all the while we are enslaved to the demands of a culture that constantly moves shifts the bar. Recognizing and changing our way of being in the world first requires attention. Only when we pay attention to how we are actually living can we intentionally address the places we are living bound by demands counter to Jesus' own invitation for us.
SWIMMING UPSTREAM
Pausing to rest, making Sabbath an intentional part of our lives is always going to feel a bit out of step with the world. There will be those who object to our boundaries and self-imposed limits. We may face the judgment (silent or otherwise) of those who feel we aren't doing enough, or that we are being lazy, or selfish by choosing time to deliberately STOP doing for a while. Knowing this upfront helps us dismiss this as a potential excuse for keeping step with those for whom rest is a four-letter-word (ahem!)
The secret about making intentional time for rest, retreat, and sabbath keeping, is that we are strengthened during these times of pausing. The more we prioritize rest, the stronger we are for the sim upstream. Our hearts, minds and souls are restored during rest.
Isaiah 30:15 says, In quietness and trust is your strength, and the word, quietness is translated from a word that means, to still.
As with so much in God's kingdom, the gifts of rest are upside-down compared to cultural perceptions. As the world measures rest in terms of deficit, in God's economy, rest enables us for more, not less⏤our capacity is enlarged. But it's not about being able to do more, though perhaps this is true for some, the gift of rest is that it enables us to have more capacity for loving our neighbor, for being generous in spirit, for practicing gentle hospitality for those right under our own roof! Rest is always generative. It leads to restoration beyond ourselves.
