All through grade school I took ballet from Ms. Karen. I wore the same outfit every week: pink tights, a pink leotard, and little pink ballet shoes with a tiny string of a bow. Practice was regular and ordinary. No lights, no crowds, no glitter, no makeup. It couldn’t have been more plain.
But once a year we would put on outfits with glitter and go to one of the biggest stages in our town. In those moments, it would occur to me, I could be an epic dancer. I could be a star. So in an effort to stand out from all of the other eight-year-old girls in the exact same costume, with the exact same dirty little ballet shoes, I would strive. I mean, I couldn’t really strive in my actual dance. It was simple and choreographed and I wasn’t going to bust out all rogue little dancer girl. But in my soul I would strive to be seen, strive to smile the biggest, strive to be noticed somehow.
Isn’t it funny I remember that feeling? And how silly. I was one of thirty 8-year-olds in the same outfit.
Are you tired? Weary? What’s the cause?
Is it really the work you have been given to do or is it the striving in your soul that makes you tired? This week we are studying John 6, where Jesus feeds the five thousand with a few fish and loaves, and He walks on water in the midst of a storm. These beautiful moments display the power of God over all circumstances and the power of God to take our small offerings and turn them into eternal work.
Knowing God and tasting heaven should cause us to rest rather than strive. Rest is a discipline and an act of obedience. We think of rest as crawling into bed and binge-watching a season of our favorite show. But true rest is something that fills our souls and empowers us to create and intentionally live life. Rest is believing God can do anything then stepping back and letting Him.
Is your soul tired?
Find rest in Him.
My Beginning. My Forever. 