Episode 003: Radiant Rhythms
Our non-stop culture creates little margin for necessary rest. We spend our days to the fullest without making the deposits we need to sustain our pace. Anxiety, depression, and burnout rates abound, but the solutions we seek end up being band-aids instead of healing the cause of these problems.
A drive to prove one’s worth to the world compounds the issue, preventing us from asking for help or depending on others, even God. I am guilty. I’m the girl who gets things done. My name, Laura, means victory and strength, and more than once I’ve exhausted myself trying to do things on my own.
If you wear yourself out doing too much, regardless of the intent behind the doing, the exhaustion will turn into resentment.
We see this in the book of Luke when Jesus stops to visit the home of Martha and Mary. I can imagine Him sitting in the living room talking with everyone there. Mary is sitting at his feet hanging onto every word, intent on not missing a moment with Jesus. Martha, wanting to impress her guests, prepares a large meal and plays the perfect hostess. Instead of finding joy in serving, she expresses to Jesus her aggravation against Mary for not helping her. I love His patient response,
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41-42 NIV)
Jesus patiently told her, you’re doing too much, if you were spending time with me, you wouldn’t be worrying about all these details.
We must focus on pouring His strength into our lives before serving. Otherwise, our relationship with God becomes about what we are doing instead of who we are serving. I appreciate how The Message version records Jesus in Matthew 11:28-30, “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. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
A real rest. What does this even look like? My kids are older now but some of the moments during those toddler years seem blurry because I was exhausted. And then you think you’ll have a chance to rest as they get older but then you end up staying up late to clean those baseball pants before tomorrow’s doubleheader.
Can we even comprehend the meaning of rest in our world? Rest in the dictionary means being still-an instance or period of relaxing or ceasing to engage in strenuous or stressful activity. No wonder we can’t rest, being still means stopping and no one has time for that.
But if we don’t stop or learn how to rest and work out of His strength, we will easily believe the lie that our salvation hinges on works rather than grace.
A year into full-time ministry, I confided to a mentor, telling her how hard everything seemed, and how I didn’t know if I could continue. Expecting her to express consolation, I was surprised when she asked, “What’s hard?” When I began explaining everything I was doing, she stopped me and said, “You know just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. What can you let go of? And what does your Sabbath look like?” I spent days processing our conversation and the last few years building rhythms of grace into my life.
Rhythms of grace point to the model Jesus gave us when He walked this earth. Jesus took breaks. He took time to rest in, to be in, and to surround himself in His Father’s presence.
Resting in His strength means I’m not relying on myself to get everything done. I believe He shakes His head at me from time to time when I forget He’s the one responsible for building His church.
How can you and I learn to rest in His strength?
It begins with surrendering our time to Him.
Your use of time shapes your life. I have complained about not having enough hours in the day, but my screen time tells a different story. Pinterest and social media scrolling eat up hours, so I must set limits for myself. I understand needing to tune out for a while, but is my need to tune out because I never tuned in to Him? Have I deposited His word into my life as much as I’m depositing Netflix?
Don’t misunderstand, I love a good show or DIY project. But if my time is limited, I need to make sure I’m following Paul’s advice when he wrote, “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive.” (1 Corinthians 10:23)
If I surrender my time to God, then He will equip me for the tasks He sets before me.
Surrendering our time also means surrendering our “yes” to Him.
Which means sometimes I’m going to have to say no. In her book, Present over Perfect, Shauna Niequest says, “You can't have yes without no. If you're not careful with your yeses, you start to say no to some very important things without even realizing it.”
There is only one of me and there is only one of you. We need to recognize our limitations. But how do you know what to say yes to? Even if it’s not in your nature to attempt to make everyone happy, most of us struggle with saying “no”. The key is found in Matthew 6 when Jesus says, “Seek first the Kingdom of God”.
Living radiantly means His priorities must become my priorities.
Think about your closest friend. What makes your relationship close? My closest friends can tell the difference between my real smile and the other one. You know the one that says, “I’m smiling this way, so I don’t say what is going through my head.” We can also communicate without using a single word. Our friendships didn’t start out this way. Time together and shared experiences created the intimacy we now enjoy.
Building a relationship with God happens the same way. Time spent with Him creates the ability for us to hear his voice.
We then live out Isaiah’s blessing, “your own ears will hear Him. Right behind you, a voice will say, “This is the way you should go”(Isaiah 30:21).
I don’t need to stress about what to say yes to and where I need to say no, Decisions we make on how to spend our time become clearer because the Holy Spirit is leading us.
Trying to do things on my own indicates a trust issue. Do I trust God to meet my needs?
While my name means victory and strength, God is victorious. One of his names is Jehovah Nissi, God of Victory. Many times, I look to myself when everything I need comes from Him, Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides. His name is above all names because He created everything.
In Him, we can have confidence, in His name we can trust.
Psalm 44:8 reminds us, “In God we make our boast all day long, and we will praise your name forever.”
As we pray, think about your schedule. What is exhausting you? Do you need to invite God into this area of your life?
Father, today I surrender my need to control my agenda. I want to find rest in you. Help me to hear your voice and understand when to say yes and when to say no. God, give me the grace to live in a way where I am not hurried or exhausted. Make your priorities my priorities. I love you, Lord. I need you. I want to build our relationship. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for showing me how to live with rhythms of grace. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Let’s go live radiantly.
XOXO,
Laura
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The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer
Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequest
Luke 10, Matthew 11, 1 Corinthians 10
All scripture NIV unless otherwise noted
