Rest...just the way that word sounds when you say it outloud. Go ahead...close your eyes...breathe in a deep breath...exhale slowly...and say it. "Rest..." Don't you feel your heart and soul sigh? It's something that the very core of our being longs for...and yet something so few of us get on a regular basis. A few stats on the subject:
* Sleeplessness afflicts 70 million Americans and is faulted for 38,000 deaths
per year.
* The condition costs nearly $70 billion annually in loss of
productivity.
* Studies show that 64% of teens blame it for poor school
performance.
* Researchers say the most severe cases occur between the
ages of 30 and 40.
* One study suggests that the condition impacts the
lives of 50% of the over 65 population
So if we are so affected and afflicted by a lack of sleep...why? Why not simply sleep more? I think one of the root prolems at the core of our sleepless and restlessness is our unwillingness to...as that Christian bumper sticker says..."Let go and let God". We hold on with a fierce white-knuckle grip to our lives...our days...our friends...our families...and we often do it without the realization that we are. We have a lack of faith...faith in the fact that God
is GOD. The CREATOR of our Universe. And yes...this Creator is the same that rested on the 7th day. And if God rests...so should we. It's almost as if God is saying "If creation didn't crash when I rested, it won't crash when you do."*1 Remember...there are only TWO types of things that you can worry about: the things you
can't change (so why worry? It's
not going to accomplish anything...just give it to God and allow him to grant you peace) and the things that you
can change (and if you can...then do. It's a quick was to annihilate worry).
God wants us to live from a
full heart...and we far to often are determined to live out of our heart as if it were a very shallow stream...instead of a
vastly deep resevoir.
***** .:: Unfinished - More to Come ::. *****