rest....

"He smiles gratitude and tallies the flax to my list.  There is only the sound of his pencil slow scratching out the math of my total.  What is hurry in this world that has let the world go on ahead?

On my way down the lane I notice collections of women in the long waving grasses of the pasture, their black aprons blowing too in the breeze.  A line of men parallel the fence, leaning on the cedar rails.  Here, there is no compulsion.  They have found time.  And each other.

In that moment it comes to me, the story of a well-known pastor who was once asked what was the most profound regret of his life.  Recalling the expansive and chaotic landscape of a life of sins and wounds, he thought for a moment, then answered,

"Being in a hurry.  Getting to the next thing without fully entering the thing in front of me.  I cannot think of a single advantage I've ever gained from being in a hurry.  But a thousand broken and missed things, tens of thousands, lie in the wake of all the rushing.  Through all the haste, I thought I was making up time. 

It turns out I was throwing it away."

Pushing, hurrying, rushing to gather and store...as it trickles out a corner.  The cord was tied moments after our birth.  There is no need to push anymore.

Listen.

Hear Jesus soothing his children with another word, one that massages life into this business of living?

 rest

--Ann Voskamp