Dismembered

(That's a dramatic way to say "torn.")

Maybe a bit over the top, yet in my brain and heart an accurate description.

Life is so incredibly busy. The line between priorities, obligations, and just plain "want-tos" bleed and blur. At any given moment, the subjects attached to the other end of the strings affixed to my heart begin to engage in aggressive tug-of-war.

I've realize how much has been entrusted to us. The responsibility to designate purpose to a whole of 86,400 seconds of each of day. Life, as an ever shifting maze of opportunity and decisive demands, makes for its own, enormous choice. For what we do with each second determines the outcome of the minute, determines the outcome of the hour, determines the outcome of the day, the year, the LIFE.

No pressure, though.

A dear friend a few nights ago challenged me to really break down my priorities. To decide and act upon the things that were truly important. As simple as this sounds, I had to take some time to contemplate. I first began by allowing the things that consistently fill my time to play in fast forward on the movie screen of my imagination. And yet, the significance for those activities was not as profound as I would have assigned .

When I finally broke it down, I had four priorities that the potential calendar of my life could filter through. It was quite different from the current reality.

Here's the kicker. I read through the Bible cover to cover in a pretty short time. This provided an amazing perspective on the overall story of the Word. Reading in the Old Testament, what command would you think God would put the most emphasis on?

Maybe things like, oh, I don't know murder? Idolatry? Covetousness?

Sabbath. That is the one discipline that is stressed throughout the ENTIRE Bible. And yet probably the most overlooked...I'm a prime example. Why does God do this? Because like a good parent, he knows that if we get tired we're gonna get cranky? Because He struggles to keep up with our constant requests, and needs a break from genie work every once in a while? Because, well, He rested on that one day and we are supposed to imitate him.

For me, I'm going with the cranky one. God made me. He knows how I roll.

Seriously, though. I have a theory. Rest is not just a grown-up "time out" thing. Rest is not a singular event. Rest is a perpetual state of being. It is in rest that we let go...and let God. A place of reflection. A place of perspective. Perspective on who we are...and ultimately who we are because of Christ. Rest is not about forcing ourselves to cease from doing what we really want to do. Rest is about being where we ultimately, deeply desire to be. To stay. And this is one of those times that God (shocker) knows what we need more than we do.

So on a surface level, the necessity to delegate some of my precious seconds to ANOTHER pursuit seems overwhelming. And yet. That's the beauty of rest. Rest is not another event. Rest is the vehicle that navigates the paths of responsibilities. Once seated in that place, the stress of time determination melts away. For in the rest, revelation falls that the pressure doesn't fall on me anymore. I switched yokes, remember?