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Things I Am (Re)Learning This Summer

Posted on August 12, 2011 by Ric Strangway

Rest is a good thing! It seems like the last few weeks has reminded me of something that I have been slowly learning for a long time … God’s idea for life is better than mine. What I mean is, I too often think that I can just keep going, that I can work and keep busy and be involved in all the things that I am interested in and not really worry much about how things are going beneath the surface. But I have come to realize again, that I can’t live that way. I can’t just keep moving forward and thinking that I am the commander of my life without falling flat on my face. I haven’t been made to live that way, and I don’t think others have either.

So here’s a few things I have been (re)learning these last few weeks while away on vacation. First, it seems that most weeks I am too busy to slow down and think about my life. What I mean is, one of the human faults I keep bumping up against is this idea that I am invincible. It seems like the busier I get the more I think that I just have to keep going, I don’t have time to slow down, if I slow down then I will fall behind. But that’s not true. That’s not how we’ve been made. We’ve been made to work, yes. But we’ve been made to rest in the rhythm of work. More on that later.

The next thing I have been learning is that until I slow down I usually don’t ask myself the important questions. Questions like, Am I spending enough time with my wife? Am I spending enough time with my family? What’s the spiritual temperature in my home? How am I doing spiritually? Do I have friends in my life that I can laugh with, share with, confess my struggles to? Somehow, when I slow down I start to notice the gaps in my life. Sometimes those gaps are small and there’s just a little tweaking that’s needed but other times I see some major flaws, things that have gone unnoticed in my more “hurried state.”

Third, and this one is kind of a different take on the second one, sometimes when I slow down I realize that I don’t like something about my life. Or worse, I find that I don’t like something about myself. My first reaction when I see something like this is to get back to work, to get busy, or to quickly get active doing something else. But the truth is, it’s in these slow-down days and rest periods that I begin to see some of the “ugliness” of life. Which usually leads me to ask some more, often harder, questions about myself. I am learning that I need to slow down so that I can see myself for who I really am.

Fourth, I am finding that when I take time for myself, my family, my friends and to just renew my emotional, spiritual and physical tanks, then I have much more energy towards my work. I rest so that I can work better. With more energy, more joy, more feeling and passion and life! Good rest leads to good life.

Finally, and this is the key to everything that I have been learning (and re-learning), when I rest I realize again that I need God. I come to the clear recognition that I have limits, faults, weaknesses, and a strong propensity to sin and go my own way. And it’s often in the stopping and “resting” that I begin to see that I just can’t live my life without God’s grace, mercy and strength. I am learning that in rest I find peace, and hope and wisdom and healing and perspective.

I have had several days off and it’s been great! But those days have been a gift to what I think is a better life. I can’t tell you how much I love and value the North Point Family. It’s such a great place to be a part of. But I am continuing to learn that I am a better father, husband, person and pastor when I take time to rest. Good rest gives good life!

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