Ready, Set, Rest!

Happy Spring! Well, at least it is here in California. Though we are still in drought, there has been a recent dumping of rain to join our mostly warm weather leading to lovely green fields and lush trees and flowers. I"m so loving this sunny weather, but I don't plan to be around for the consequences of an early spring with hardly any winter.....a summer with a lot of fires.

In my last posting I let you all know officially know about the completion of my two programs and degrees. I"m so thankful to be done and to have time with my family before transitioning into...(que the dramatic music).....professional life!

In my time since Christmas I've been able to 'do' much. Unpack my loaded car, clean my room- which has been the dumping zone during my transitions for the last 10 years (yes 10 years- I was opening mail from years ago), cleaning/ reinstalling the operating system of my mal-functioning computer, meeting with friends in the area, dealing with insurance, credit cards, dentist and doctor visits, time to study French, and on and on it goes. Basically all the stuff that sits around needing to be done, but you use the excuse 'when I have time, I'll do it'. Well, I'm here to tell you, it is not that much fun to do when you do have time, but I'm trying to be thankful for the restbit anyway.

Above all, I recognize that this is a time unlike any other I"m likely to have, possibly ever. A time when I feel content in where the Lord has me to simply 'rest'. I am in a continual process of discovering what that actually even means. It is not as simple as coming home at the end of a long day or week to 'rest' for the evening or weekend. It is something much deeper and demanding.

Resting, in our society is not generally viewed as a big character building exercise. It is something that people are usually hoping for, and looking forward to, but then once people have their 'rest' or vacation or whatever they are wishing for, they often come back to ‘everyday’ life needing a rest from their rest. Does this sound familiar? Most of us are not good at sitting still, except perhaps when we reach retirement, and even then you hear about how people struggle enjoying this ‘rest time’.

The ability to engage with another human-being without a schedule and constant glances at our watches and/or interruptions from our phones is rare indeed. Can you think of the last time you did that?

The other day, as I was literally putting the suitcase lock on my bag to put in the car and drive to the airport with my dad to fly to Texas, we had a neighbor stop by the house. He had come only because he wanted to share some movies that he had burned on DVDs for me, on a subject he thought that I would be interested in based on a previous discussion. He held me at the front door for 15-20mins telling me all the details - names and places of the 2 DVDs he'd just given me, with seemingly no awareness that I was standing with wet hair and a luggage lock in my hand and half put on shoes on my feet. As I stood there listening (but not really hearing) my first thought was how rude this seemed to me and that he had no idea of his poor timing. My next thought was, perhaps I need to be more like that ....to have my focus on engaging with the person and sharing life together without being driven - no, without being controlled by the clock!!!

I'm the first to admit that our Western world is driven by schedules and planning, and to be honest I enjoy it to a degree and find it very beneficial in many ways. But I also know that I want to be a person living on Christ's timeline to serve other people, and that OFTEN will not be MY timeline.

This 3+ month long 'rest' that I am enjoying has had its challenges, the greatest of which have been building relationships and adapting to others' timing, both my family, friends, and Christ's timing. If I want to live my own life apart from others, I can control every second of my life, but if I want to live a life of relationship, character growth, heart change, service, and joy in all circumstances, then I must adapt my life pace to that of those around me and most importantly to that of Christ who sees all and knows all and will not waste my time the time He has allowed me.

To everything there is  a season, and this may not be your season to rest, but still it is worth taking time to recognize what season you are in and enjoy that for all it is worth. We don't know what will come tomorrow, but we know what is here today - enjoy it. There must be rain to bring spring and there must be a hot summer to dry the leaves for a cool fall.

Love well, lean on others, have fun, choose to be joyful.

Be blessed whatever your season might be,

Jessica

P.S. I still struggle to sit and read a book for hours- even one I've been wanting to read for years. To those who can do this in peace and tranquility, you are blessed - never lose that skill and practice it often.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-11

Common English Bible

There’s a season for everything and a time for every matter under the heavens:2     

a time for giving birth and a time for dying,

a time for planting and a time for uprooting what was planted,3     

a time for killing and a time for healing,

a time for tearing down and a time for building up,4     a time for crying and a time for laughing,

a time for mourning and a time for dancing,5     

a time for throwing stones and a time for gathering stones,

a time for embracing and a time for avoiding embraces,6     

a time for searching and a time for losing,

a time for keeping and a time for throwing away,7     

a time for tearing and a time for repairing,

a time for keeping silent and a time for speaking,8     

a time for loving and a time for hating,

a time for war and a time for peace.

What do workers gain from all their hard work? 10 I have observed the task that God has given human beings. 11 God has made everything fitting in its time, but has also placed eternity in their hearts, without enabling them to discover what God has done from beginning to end.

[Thank you Gateway Bible]