Being Still & Living the Rhythms of Grace
November always feels a bit like a Thursday to me … We’ve just had Wednesday (October), and now we are eagerly anticipating Friday (December), but we still have to make it through Thursday (November) … and not just make it through, but many of us find November to be the time when most of the planning for December happens. It can actually be an overwhelming time of year.
Last week, I asked God if he had a word for us as we head into this season, and he replied with two words: “slow down.”
I honestly found myself a little frustrated because it’s not like we don’t know that it’s a good idea to slow down … but for most of us, it’s just that – an idea! We hear talks encouraging us to “slow down,” we read in our bibles that we should, “be still and know that he is God” (Psalm 46:10), and friends tell us that we just need to “prioritize what matters,” … then we get home and realize … “Oh. When I slow down, my house, my work, my family life … doesn’t. The lists just get longer, the inbox gets fuller, and the refrigerator gets emptier.
We’ve all heard someone say to the mother of a newborn, “the dishes can wait! Soak up the time!” … and then anyone who has had a newborn realizes … the dishes are waiting … for YOU! The list doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, so how do we actually live out what it means to be still and know that He is God?
We know that it’s a good idea to “prioritize what matters,” but the reality is – a lot of what we do matters! Most of us, regardless of where we’re at in life, fill our time with things that matter. It sounds nice to be able to prioritize family and friends and ignore the dishes … until the next morning comes, and we don’t have any clean lunch boxes for school and everyone’s eating dry cereal out of a plastic bag because the bowls are dirty.
So what does it look like to actually be still and know that He is God?
For so long, Psalm 46:10 has been very illusive to me. I picture it quite literally … just sitting still in a room and going, “Okay, you are God. I know it.”
And to be honest … the following thought is, “if I am going to get to a place where I can be still and know that God is God, I need to get through my to-do list so that I can sit still.”
We tend to look at the things on our “to-do list” as things that are distracting us from life … like if I can just get through my list, then I can relax and enjoy the full life God has for me that we read about in John 10:10 (I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full!”).
But what if instead of seeing our lists and daily tasks as deterrents from life … what if we saw them as the stuff that makes up our life? Think about it – these things (laundry, meal planning, emails, meetings, working out), these are the things that make up our day. Instead of looking at them like things we have to get through to get back to living, what if we realized that these things of which our living consists?
Before you start doom-scrolling your to-do list, take a minute to think about it. Sure, no one wants to have “did laundry, bought groceries, changed oil in the car, and sent emails” as their tomb stone inscription, but the reality is that these are the tasks that do take our time, and that do need to be done.
I don’t think it’s realistic for us to just “prioritize what matters” because what we all know is – most, if not all, of the things on our list matter! The problem is, we, and probably our culture, would say that the things on our list don’t matter. We are told to de-prioritize them. And sure, if I had to choose between saving the pile of laundry or my kids from a house fire, obviously I would rescue my kids. But we know that the laundry matters. We know that getting that report submitted on time matters. We know that taking time to exercise matters.
We live in this tension of spending our days doing things that the world tells us to de-prioritize (i.e. – the things on our lists), while deep down knowing that we need to prioritize them because they do need to get done. If you’re reading this on your phone, you probably have a to-do list on your phone … take a minute and have a look at it. Remember – no doom scrolling – just look at it.
Can I please just tell you that these things matter? Instead of looking at your list with anxiety, what does it look like for you to look at it with the validation that what you are doing – what you are filling your day with – it makes a difference! What you are doing all day, is important to God. The bible says:
“Whatever task you must do, work as if your soul depends on it, as for the Lord and not for humans, since you know that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you serve the Lord Christ.” (Colossians 3:23-24 NRSVue)
“Whatever task you must do” (sounds like a “to do list” to me!), do it for the Lord! Our lists don’t have to be separate from the Lord … they can be opportunities to be with the Lord. I remember one time I was praying, and I like to journal when I pray … and I just kept thinking of things I needed to add to my grocery list for an event I was praying about, and finally I just sensed God say to me, “would it be helpful for you to just write it down here?” So I did! I wrote my grocery list in my prayer journal. And then we moved on in our time together. God cares about the things that we care about!
Doesn’t that thought change the way we do these tasks? Instead of just enduring them, what if they were an opportunity to spend time with God? What if making a grocery list wasn’t a task to endure, but a time to spend time with Jesus? Thank him that you get to buy food. Ask him to provide for your needs. Have your eyes and ears open to see each person that you pass in the aisles. God is not asking you to power through your lists so that you can model what it means to “Be still” in the literal sense of the word, but he is instead inviting you to slow down your mind from getting lost in the lists and the demands, and BE where you are, with him.
I think the biggest part of “being still” is the “being” part … Being where we’re at, instead of physically being in one place and mentally being in another. Don’t you feel like you’d feel a lot more still if while folding laundry, you were thinking about folding laundry, maybe praying, thanking God for the person who wears each item of clothing you are folding (even if that person is you!)? Maybe folding laundry, if we move it from the “to do list” to the “get-to-do list,” could be a great time to sit and talk with your family members and God … instead of getting through it, get to do it.
What if you re-titled your list from a “to do” list to a “get to do” list? See each item on there as an opportunity to BE with Jesus. He’s not an absent God who is waiting for you to finish your list so that you can be with him … he’s right there with you, elbows deep in whatever you need to do that day.
Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
We often read this verse and hear it as an invitation to stop what we’re doing. To put away the tasks we fill our days with, and just rest. And sometimes we really need that. But I think we often overlook the last verse when Jesus says, “my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” … Jesus’ invitation is not to a life with no work … as we’ve been talking, there will be work to get done, but we do not have to do the work on our own! A yoke was a device used to connect animals as they worked together … so who are the people in your life that when you are in the middle of a task, you can look to the right and left and know they’re in it with you? Have you ever thought about the idea that Jesus is with you in the daily tasks of life?
One thing to be aware of when we think about tasks, is that satan loves us to feel ashamed. We feel ashamed when we don’t get through the list because we failed and have let our family down, and yet we also feel ashamed when we do get through the list because we feel bad for ignoring people int he process. The enemy would love very much to keep you cloaked in shame rather than living the life God has created you to live. He would love for your lists to be the reason that you can’t “be still and know that God is God.” We have bought into this lie of culture for long enough; we are not the sum of what we accomplish, but we have been invited to join Jesus in the work he is doing in our world … we GET to do the things he has placed before us!
This doesn’t mean that everything should make the list. There may be things on your list that, if you’re honest, you really don’t need to get done, and pruning can be a really helpful tool sometimes. Are there things on your list or in your calendar that don’t need to get done?
Have you over-committed and now you feel like you never have a chance to pause? Maybe you thought signing your kids up for a bunch of activities was a good idea a few months ago, but now it’s almost November and you can’t remember the last Saturday that didn’t start at the crack of dawn sitting on a cold bleacher in an ice rink or from the pool deck or community centre – you name it.
Or maybe you don’t have kids or you did and they’ve moved out … and you still find yourself trying to fill your time because it’s uncomfortable to not be busy. Have a look at your list or your calendar, and be brutally honest. What are the commitments or tasks that you are facing, even this week, that you need to prune from the list? Maybe you’ve been saying, “After this week, things will slow down,” for the last 12 weeks.
Can we just be honest and acknowledge that this week is not the problem? What are the things that you need to prune from your list?
My friends, the term, “Sabbath,” is not a term of the past. Sabbath is an invitation from God to rest. It’s saying that you trust him with your life enough to rest. Children fall asleep in the car because they know that it’s not up to them to get them where they’re going – they trust that their parent will care for them while they rest. Sabbath is like that – it’s daring to rest from all of our works, put away all earthly anxieties, to delight in our Heavenly Father … to rest in his presence.
Jesus said in Matthew 11:28: “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” Remember, Jesus’ burden is light. There is still work to do in our daily lives, but if it feels too heavy, come to Jesus. If you’re looking at your list or your calendar and you’re not sure what you can cut so that sabbath can be a reality for you, ask him to help! Ask him to give you wisdom, discernment, and hey, maybe even ask him to do the pruning for you. We love cancelled plans, don’t we?! Haha.
Here’s the reality of sabbath for our family … we aim to rest from Friday evening to Saturday evening. We have pizza and a movie every Friday night, and then Saturday is usually just for playing, reading, maybe doing something as a family, etc. But sometimes there is a load of laundry that needs folding. And you know what – I think that’s where this idea of re-framing our lists comes in. I work really hard on Friday during the day to get our weekly tasks done so that rest can be a reality on Saturday. It’s incredible how knowing that Saturday is our day of rest is really motivating for our family to get our chores done throughout the week … but it’s rarely perfect, and that’s okay.
We don’t do the sabbath for God’s benefit – Sabbath is a gift for us from God! So sometimes, it honestly is more restful for me to just fold that one last load of laundry that didn’t finish drying until Saturday morning, rather than pushing it off until Sunday. I don’t fill my whole day with tasks – those can wait for other days. But sabbath is not some legalistic practice … it’s about resting and worshiping God – whatever that might look like.
Where do you find yourself today?
Hear these words from Jesus to you:
“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.” (Matthew 11:28-30 MSG)
Spend time with Jesus and you will recover your life! Work with him, watch how he does it, and learn the unforced rhythms of grace. It’s so good! What would it look like for us to be people who work with Jesus, who know how to take real rest, and who live freely and lightly?
