Rest is not something I’m good at. I run, often literally, from one thing to the next. When I am not physically running the boys to various activities, my mind is running figuring out when I can get the next thing done, prioritizing things that can’t be put off any longer, examining scheduling and finances and the rest of life.
Talk to most single moms and you’ll hear a common theme – exhaustion. I’m no different. Part of that exhaustion is the constant running we are forced to do just to keep our heads above water, the spinning of our wheels on the treadmill our lives have become.
Rest is something single moms are not good at.
The Lord says,
Come to me all you who labor and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest.
I didn’t truly understand the life of a single mom or that need for rest before. I had thought I was tired after childbirth, a new job, or a move to a new home, but this exhaustion is just all encompassing, in part because it seems endless.
And I struggle to remember that nothing in this life is endless.
Rest and Tenebrae Mass
Today George was an altar server at Tenebra, the celebration of the darkness – the frightening period between when Jesus was crucified and when He rose from the dead on Easter Sunday – through the singing of Psalms and Lamentations and Bible readings.
I had already decided to post about rest today, but the first reading took me off guard. It speaks of the rest granted to those who listen to the Word of the Lord and follow in His ways. I shook reading the first line, “that none of you seem to have failed,”
Oh have I failed!
Failed in so many things, but this is not a time to dwell on failure. I rejoice that I’ve received the good news and am united in faith.
Reading further we are reminded that even God rested on the 7th day and that a sabbath rest remains for His people. I’ve been working so hard, I’ve forgotten how to rest, but that is what we are called to do. We cannot accept part of God’s teaching but think we can outsmart other parts. I cannot say I believe the Gospel but God didn’t understand my life, He didn’t mean I should rest!
The Sabbath rest, the Lord’s rest is exactly the rest single moms long for. No amount of money, no great job, no perfect children, no clean house, no cowboy by our side can compare to the rest offered by our Father, in His arms, surrounded by His love and peace.
I know how hard I work now.
I want to rest in my next life.
And that means I must take time now to rest in the presence of the Lord.
The message is clear to those who do not rest in the Lord.
Beware of thinking too much of your own power.
Even God rested.
You should too.
And for my friend who pointed out the irony of completing this post at 23:59 pm when the Easter bunny still hasn’t come…I will be embracing a restful sleep soon! 😉
Please pray that I learn to rest better. It is something I need help with!
The Sabbath Rest.
Therefore, let us be on our guard while the promise of entering into his rest remains, that none of you seem to have failed.
For in fact we have received the good news just as they did. But the word that they heard did not profit them, for they were not united in faith with those who listened.
For we who believed enter into [that] rest, just as he has said:
“As I swore in my wrath,‘They shall not enter into my rest,’”
and yet his works were accomplished at the foundation of the world.
For he has spoken somewhere about the seventh day in this manner, “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works”;
and again, in the previously mentioned place, “They shall not enter into my rest.”
Therefore, since it remains that some will enter into it, and those who formerly received the good news did not enter because of disobedience,
he once more set a day, “today,” when long afterwards he spoke through David, as already quoted:
“Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
‘Harden not your hearts.’”
Now if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken afterwards of another day.
Therefore, a sabbath rest still remains for the people of God.
And whoever enters into God’s rest, rests from his own works as God did from his.
Therefore, let us strive to enter into that rest, so that no one may fall after the same example of disobedience.
Indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.
No creature is concealed from him, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account.
Your Turn to Share
When have you most needed rest? Were you able to take that rest? Whether you did or didn’t, what was the result?
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The first time I went to Tenebrae, I remember everyone banged hymnals against the pews at the end. I was disappointed the next time that no one did it. Guess different places have different traditions.
Just stopped by from the A to Z Challenge.
John Holton
http://thesoundofonehandtyping.wordpress.com
Wow John. I never heard of that. I’d love to know the significance of the banging hymnals. Thanks for stopping by. I’ll check your blog out too. 🙂