What do you picture when someone asks you to imagine yourself in a place of rest? A hammock swaying gently in the ocean breeze? A meandering walk in a quiet forest? Or maybe even the luxury of a mid-day nap in your very own bed?
I recently had a different sort of restful image come to mind. I was experiencing a lot of stress, and my mind was racing as I attempted to sort through several difficult situations at once. I sat down to pray and found my mind was not easily stilled. By the grace of God, an image came into my imagination. I pictured Jesus sitting right beside me with a two-headed yoke. He already had his head in one side and he offered me the other. This was an invitation to rest in Him, to let Him carry some of the heavy weight I was putting on my own shoulders. Matthew 11:38-30 in the Message translation has this beautiful invitation, “Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest.”
The image of being yoked to Jesus is a powerful invitation to rest, even as we work. The Bible contains other familiar images of rest: a shepherd caring for his sheep, a weaned child with its mother, Jesus sleeping in the back of a boat during a life-threatening storm, or the wonderful image of God’s feathers covering us as we are tucked under his wings. We know we need rest, but in our stress-filled, fast-paced world, it is often hard to find an ever-elusive experience of true rest. What images of rest might draw you closer to God’s care and provision, even in the midst of your own heavy load of cares?
If you are a pastor, spiritual director, or non-profit ministry leader, we invite you to take some time for rest at our upcoming clergy sabbath retreat on June 15-16 in Wayzata, MN (click the button below for details). You will have time for solitude & silence, and we will offer some guided prayer experiences where we will engage with some of these biblical images of rest.
