“Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.”
-Psalm 62:5
These days are long and sometimes lonely and strange. I have moments of peace and gratitude, and then waves of anxiety and fear will come crashing over me, but I am anchoring my soul during those storms with this verse.
"𝘠𝘦𝘴, 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭, 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘎𝘰𝘥; 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘏𝘪𝘮."
When I looked up the word rest these are some of the excerpts from the definition I found:
"𝘛𝘰 𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘹, 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘩 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧, 𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩."
"𝘛𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯."
"𝘛𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥, 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯- 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦, 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵, 𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯."
This description of rest frees me up. I don't have to hustle to earn God's love. Hope and love are there for the taking. I can always take a posture of hope when I lean into His love because He's always got me.
We are in a season of being confined to our homes for the greater good of our communities as we try to help slow the spread of this virus, and while my heart is heavy for the trials we are facing as a nation and as a globe, I'm also reminded that a forced season of a slower pace can be a gift.
There are many burdens that each of us carry in this slower season: fear of getting sick, of losing loved ones, of loneliness, of the economy crashing, of losing our jobs and not having enough, of losing our patience and our minds as we try to homeschool our kids and work at the same time. These burdens are heavy and real, but His love and grace are real as well.
My hope is that I will use this time well. My hope is that I will faithfully carry these burdens to the One who made the world and who holds us even now. I'm hoping that this forced fallow season will be followed by new life and growth and flourishing as we REST in God place our HOPE in Him.
