“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-20

We live frenetic lives because of the many demands of work, ministry, family, and other relationships. We are adversely affected by the economic crunch, by soaring commodity prices, by fare hikes, and by other financial obligations and challenges. The credit companies drain us with their maximized credit interests, the banks threaten us with foreclosure, and the government slaps us with painful taxes. Life, indeed, is hard these days. It isn’t easy. We must double our effort, our working and waking hours, in order to double our pay and survive our existence.

Religion can be an added burden too when unnecessary expectations and requirements are imposed on us, restricting our movement, dictating our diets, looks, apparel, and conduct. The “Christian church” we go to can also sap our energy and resources by its constant plea for monetary offering, by its constant resource mobilization for mission and charity, and by its own internal tensions and conflicts.

Our mind, body, and spirit ache for some time off, for a halt from all our concerns. We long for peace, tranquility, and rest. We long to be pulled away from the swirl of things and be transported to a quiet spot where our faces are soothed by crisp and fresh air, our backs eased of tensed muscles, and our senses sated with aromatic scent.

We are not short of invitations for such restful and relaxing encounters. There is the spa, the exotic holiday, the smorgasbord, and the entertainment center. All promise comfort, ease, rest, pleasure, delight, and relaxation. We unwittingly grab their offer only to realize that their wares are momentary. Also, they drain our pockets and our bank accounts.
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Jesus’ invitation is not like this. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,” he offers, “and I will give you rest.” He does not offer any technique, any commodity, any gadget to purchase. Instead He offers Himself. “Come to me,” He says. He offers His person as the ultimate Source of rest. “I will give you rest,” He adds to His invitation. He knows our predicament and He offers what we exactly need: rest for our souls.

When we are sorely exhausted in body, soul, and spirit, we long not only for a momentary rest but for a kind of rest that sustains us. We do not need a momentary fix, like a kind of anesthesia or morphine that blocks the pain and perks our spirits, but only for a while. We do not need a moment of elation, a “high feeling” that disappears the moment we wake up. We need a kind of rest that stays, sustains, and empowers us. We need a kind of rest that springs to life our deadness.

This is the kind of rest that Jesus offers. It is the rest that leads to eternal life, rather, that ushers us into eternity. It is the rest that keeps us grounded in the midst of difficulties. It is the rest that faces adversity squarely in the face, the rest that hopes, perseveres, trusts, and survives despite uncertainties and ambiguities.

Nonetheless, our “rest in Jesus” does not happen in a vacuum. New Age instructs us to empty ourselves – our minds – of all concerns to invite centeredness, peace and quietude. We combine such mind exercise with physical flexing to attain peace. Jesus’ offer goes beyond that. He asks us to exchange the load we carried with His load. “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,” He says. Our rest in Jesus, then, involves a meeting of lives. We need to encounter Him. We need to learn from Him. Our rest in Him involves a contemplation of his personality, of his mission, in order to imitate him.

In such contemplation and imitation we discover that indeed, He is “gentle and humble in heart.” His “yoke is easy and his burden is light.” We discover rest not only for our physical bodies but for our souls. We find in Him exactly what we need. We find in Him perfect gentleness and humility absent from our other relationships. The burden that we used to carry drags us, presses us down, even endangers us. But Jesus’ burden soothes us, encourages us, inspires us, empowers us. This is because Jesus is Himself gentleness and humility.

Written by Millicent Guarin

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.” – Ecclesiastes 3:1

God put into place natural processes to sustain the created order. A slimy caterpillar metamorphoses into a colorful butterfly. A dead seed buried in the soil sprouts and grows into a tree. A painful wound, although it usually leaves a scar, heals over time. A baby stays at its mother’s womb for nine months before it pushes itself out.

The Teacher in Ecclesiastes mentions the different seasons of life. There is a time, he said, to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and time to laugh … a time for war and time for peace. All these seasons describe life as dynamic, fluid, and able to grow and develop.

seasons_of_live_bg.jpgGod’s design for the world is good. It is for a good purpose that a seed dies. Like the seed, some of us need to be hurt deeply in order to realize how deep and wide and long God’s love is. Some need to experience living at the edge in order to learn that God is a Helper in times of need. Some need to experience being at the throes of death in order to conquer fear and realize that God is the Life. Some need to go in order to create room for growth for others. Some need to be martyred for the salvation of others.

In all our seasons we can actually sit back and relax. For behind each detail of our lives is a just and loving God. He is all-good. He does not mean evil. Jesus’ suffering on the cross tells us there is nothing in the present nor in the future that can separate us from the love of God. Amidst our joys and pains, hope and fears, laughter and tears, we can say with the Teacher that indeed, “He has made everything beautiful in its time.’

Written by Millicent Guarin