Today I have something I am going to post about rest....but before that I just have to say I am not very good achieving that goal
It seems like every time I seek some sort of rest and relief from the cares of this world more junk gets dumped upon me. No matter how hard I try and step back to take a deep breath and chill.... well lets just put it this way challenges arise.
As a child trying to survive all the abuse heaped upon me I dissociated to be able to find a refuge in my mind. If I had not had the ability to do that no doubt I would have not survived.
Now many years later and a whole lot of healing later, dissociating is not an option anymore. I have to meet life's junk head on. So, now the challenge is how to deal with it and survive with my brain still intact. Believe me it is a challenge!
I have heard people tell me what a blessed life I have.... well any life is blessed in my opinion just because it has managed to survive anything on this planet. Maybe the word is miraculous?
My life has always been hard and it still is.... I have had blessed moments but even then blessings always come with a price.
Do I sound cranky and bitter? Well I can be cranky and yeah sometimes even bitter not to mention angry. I have to admit I do not always run around praising God for allowing me to be here and all that is my life. Oops... did I admit that? Now what? Is the sky going to fall?
So with saying that I have to say this.... I do not always rest well, much less in peace. Am I a failure? Am I lacking faith?
It does often seem to me that just when it feels like I am getting on my feet and brushing off my pants from the last fall I find myself on my butt again. Am I ever going to learn? Will I ever get this? In my opinion.... probably not. So the sixty four thousand dollar question is.... how do I live with this and get any rest at all and survive this life?
The only thing I know is written below.... and I am so not there yet. I am a work in progress...
THE PLACE OF REST
(Matthew 11:29)
Most people have their idea of rest. For me it is to stop all other activities and read a good book. However, in this fast-paced world, it can be hard to stop. The reason it can prove to be hard to stop is because of the momentum that often drives people. For example, the momentum that drives me is time is short and I want to finish all the projects that I have started in relationship to my spiritual life. In reality such work may not be completed because there will always be demands or responsibilities tugging at each of us.
When we think of rest, we often relate it to a state of rest. The reality of true rest is that we must come to a place of rest in order to experience an inner state of rest. The world is not only one big pigpen of vanity, but it is battleground where the soul finds itself in constant conflict.
The motivation or momentum behind this conflict is selfishness. Man wants his way so that his emotional state will experience joy. He wants to be right so that his mind will not be caught up with uncertainty and doubt. He wants to ensure that his will is carried out so that all can be well with his world. However, man finds himself at odds with those in his world that are also motivated by their selfishness.
Jesus understood this conflict well. He invited everyone to come to a place of rest. In summary, come to Him and He will give each of us the vital rest for our soul that so many are seeking in the midst of the rubble and tombs of the world. Remember, the person of Jesus is an actual place. He is the Prince of Peace, and the only one capable of bringing rest to our restless and tormented souls.
Thought: The real rest we often seek is the rest from the momentum caused by personal demands, expectations, responsibilities, and turmoil of life.
©2010 Rayola Kelley, Gentle Shepherd Ministries. Permission is granted for
non-commercial (free) distribution provided this notice appears.
www.gentleshepherd.com
Questions or comments welcome. Email: ministry@gentleshepherd.com
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
I am Back....
Hello All....
Well I am finally back from a much needed break although I have not been resting at all. Today I am taking the day off from most of my endeavors and just staying home. I have been running my self in circles with Hospice and such and am just plain tired. A good tired but tired none the less.
So what is new? Well let me see....
It is spring now and it looks like it has kicked in for real... pollen and all. However I am really enjoying listening to all the birds and soaking up all the colors springing forth from this tired old earth. It amazes me how this planet manages to push out so many wonderful things in spite of mans determination to destroy so much of it.
It has been about a year since that horrible tornado hit Mena... still a lot of gaps where trees once stood as well as empty lots where houses once sat. A lot of people left Mena after the tornado. Many just rolled up their sleeves and plowed on rebuilding and replanting, but the scars are there reminding us how life as we know it can change in a matter of minutes.
I am not a seer or anything but I do not think it takes one to realize how fast things are changing. In my mind I do not see anything remaining the same on this planet with life as we have known it, being here much longer. The fact that it has lasted this long is amazing to me.
I wonder about the great 'American Dream' and wonder if it was more like the great 'American Illusion' ?
We as humans do not learn our lessons very well and always seem bent on making the same mistakes over and over. I hear people say how some groups of people had a great way of life until the white man came... but in reading about our past on this planet.... well it seems to me all humans have the same flaws. It does not matter what color,what culture, what religion.... humans are what they are. The good, the bad and the ugly. I see no superior race of people at all. People are just people....
I do believe however that some people are evil to the core and have no good in them, period. On the flip side I believe there are some people who seem to have a loving nature that just flows out from them and blesses everyone in their wake.
So what does any of this matter? I guess it is my same old rant.... don't start chucking out everyone and labeling everyone by their race, religion or culture. We all have a lot to learn from each other... we even need to learn from the bad stuff.
This planet knows that... it takes the fire and starts over by soaking up the nutrients from the ashes and using that fire to refresh the ground.
So during this time on our planet when the fires are getting more frequent and much hotter, look at it as a time of renewing. This is a time when everything that is rotten in going to purged so wonderful new things can come again.
Spring is coming to planet earth... to our solar system.... to this race of people called humanity.
John 3:16 (Amplified Bible)
16For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten ([a]unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.
John 12:46-48 (Amplified Bible)
46I have come as a Light into the world, so that whoever believes in Me [whoever cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Me] may not continue to live in darkness.
47If anyone hears My teachings and fails to observe them [does not keep them, but disregards them], it is not I who judges him. For I have not come to judge and to condemn and to pass sentence and to inflict penalty on the world, but to save the world.
48Anyone who rejects Me and persistently sets Me at naught, refusing to accept My teachings, has his judge [however]; for the [very] message that I have spoken will itself judge and convict him at the last day.
One thing I am beginning to understand in a very small way is that the Son comes to people in very different ways... and His name is not always Jesus... but He speaks to our spirits and our spirits know His voice...and if we are His.... we listen and follow. He never loses one of His own.... NEVER!!!
Love & Prayers,
Judy
Well I am finally back from a much needed break although I have not been resting at all. Today I am taking the day off from most of my endeavors and just staying home. I have been running my self in circles with Hospice and such and am just plain tired. A good tired but tired none the less.
So what is new? Well let me see....
It is spring now and it looks like it has kicked in for real... pollen and all. However I am really enjoying listening to all the birds and soaking up all the colors springing forth from this tired old earth. It amazes me how this planet manages to push out so many wonderful things in spite of mans determination to destroy so much of it.
It has been about a year since that horrible tornado hit Mena... still a lot of gaps where trees once stood as well as empty lots where houses once sat. A lot of people left Mena after the tornado. Many just rolled up their sleeves and plowed on rebuilding and replanting, but the scars are there reminding us how life as we know it can change in a matter of minutes.
I am not a seer or anything but I do not think it takes one to realize how fast things are changing. In my mind I do not see anything remaining the same on this planet with life as we have known it, being here much longer. The fact that it has lasted this long is amazing to me.
I wonder about the great 'American Dream' and wonder if it was more like the great 'American Illusion' ?
We as humans do not learn our lessons very well and always seem bent on making the same mistakes over and over. I hear people say how some groups of people had a great way of life until the white man came... but in reading about our past on this planet.... well it seems to me all humans have the same flaws. It does not matter what color,what culture, what religion.... humans are what they are. The good, the bad and the ugly. I see no superior race of people at all. People are just people....
I do believe however that some people are evil to the core and have no good in them, period. On the flip side I believe there are some people who seem to have a loving nature that just flows out from them and blesses everyone in their wake.
So what does any of this matter? I guess it is my same old rant.... don't start chucking out everyone and labeling everyone by their race, religion or culture. We all have a lot to learn from each other... we even need to learn from the bad stuff.
This planet knows that... it takes the fire and starts over by soaking up the nutrients from the ashes and using that fire to refresh the ground.
So during this time on our planet when the fires are getting more frequent and much hotter, look at it as a time of renewing. This is a time when everything that is rotten in going to purged so wonderful new things can come again.
Spring is coming to planet earth... to our solar system.... to this race of people called humanity.
John 3:16 (Amplified Bible)
16For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten ([a]unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.
John 12:46-48 (Amplified Bible)
46I have come as a Light into the world, so that whoever believes in Me [whoever cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Me] may not continue to live in darkness.
47If anyone hears My teachings and fails to observe them [does not keep them, but disregards them], it is not I who judges him. For I have not come to judge and to condemn and to pass sentence and to inflict penalty on the world, but to save the world.
48Anyone who rejects Me and persistently sets Me at naught, refusing to accept My teachings, has his judge [however]; for the [very] message that I have spoken will itself judge and convict him at the last day.
One thing I am beginning to understand in a very small way is that the Son comes to people in very different ways... and His name is not always Jesus... but He speaks to our spirits and our spirits know His voice...and if we are His.... we listen and follow. He never loses one of His own.... NEVER!!!
Love & Prayers,
Judy
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