"...and you will find rest for your souls." -Matthew 11:29b
Have you ever had one of those days (or weeks, or months) that nothing seemed to go as planned, no matter how hard you tried? I had one recently. My husband had been traveling, so I was parenting 3 kids 6 and under by myself (shout out to all the parents who do this every day. You’re amazing!), things at work didn’t go as planned, and I came home to realize that I had forgotten to prep anything for dinner. Thankfully, I remembered that we had leftover charcuterie from the night before, so I decided we’d eat that. I was feeling a little guilty for not making a “real” meal with the food that we had purchased for that purpose when I noticed that the marmalade on my plate had morphed into a heart. Whenever I find a heart-shaped item in an unexpected place, I think about God’s love for me. When I paused at that moment, God reminded me of Matthew 11:28-30 which says,
“28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
I asked myself, “Am I resting in the work that God has done and is doing in my life, or am I striving to be a ‘good mom’ in my own strength?” I have a tendency to try to do things on my own, forgetting that anything that I accomplish is by the grace of God alone.
God has been teaching me about faithful obedience and sabbath lately. There are so many things that I want to accomplish. Some are “simple” like feeding my children well. Some are more complex. I often feel as though I’m getting nowhere in my goals, but God has been reminding me that He is always working and I don’t need to. Now , that doesn’t mean that I should sit around doing nothing. I need to be faithfully obedient in the task that he’s put before me—for this day—and rest in his power and grace as He accomplishes what he will in and through me. Sometimes that task is a big deal, and sometimes it’s simply assembling my little family in the living room, and eating charcuterie while we snuggle on the couch remembering God’s gracious provision.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by your list of to-dos, remember and ponder these words of Jesus today:
"28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
I love that Jesus just says “Come to me”. He doesn’t say, “Get that work done, and then come to me”. He just says, “Come.” We simply need to come to Him and he will give us rest.