Slow Down...

• Psalm 46:10: "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!"
• Lamentations 3:25-26: "The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord."
• Ecclesiastes 3:1: "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven."
• Isaiah 30:15: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength."

These are just some of the results you will get when you google "Bible verses about slowing down". I looked them up because, lately, about every answer I get to every question I ask God is "You can rest easy, you don't have to work so hard..." in Andrew Peterson's calming voice. Either I have that song stuck in my head or God is trying to tell me something. Or both!

I am a worker. I like to be busy. This slowing down thing isn't my area of expertise. But I think I am getting better at it. I know that spending so many years in pain forced me to rest more than I wanted to, but now that I am so much better, do I really have to rest easy?

The rest I feel like God is talking to me about isn't mostly physical (though He is pretty specific in His word about how important Sabath-ing is). Am I trying to do things on my own strength? I should rest easy. Am I trying to be provider? I should rest easy. Am I worrying about the future? I should rest easy. I don't have to work so hard to wear myself down...

I came across this meme the other day, and it made me laugh because it reminded me of a recent walk with my two youngest children.

They aren't exactly botanists, but the other day I asked my little ones if they wanted to go for a walk before lunch and they were excited to. We had an hour, and I figured it would make the house a little quieter for their homeschooling older siblings to finish their morning work.

My youngsters are 5 and 3 years old and every piece of garbage along the walk was an object of intense interest. We walked along a route that many people take to our local dump, so that was a lot of garbage! I uttered many a "Don't touch that!" but I tried to limit my "Come on, hurry up!"s to just a few in an effort to "rest easy" and purposely slow myself down. I had already had my workout that day, I reminded myself, and reason for this walk was to entertain these two dear souls and spend some one-on-two time with them.  It was fun. I won't say it was relaxing because, as I said, I'm not very good at this slowing down business, but I certainly enjoyed watching them explore their world. 

What area of your life is God encouraging you to "rest easy" in? I've copied the lyrics of the song below for you. Maybe you should read through them and He will give you the message that you need to hear?

Rest Easy

Song by

Andrew Peterson

You are not alone
I will always be with you
Even to the end

So you don't have to work so hard
You can rest easy
You don't have to prove yourself
You're already mine
You don't have to hide your heart
I already love you
I hold it in mine
So you can rest easy
You can rest easy

So do not be afraid
Oh, nothing, nothing in the world
Can come between us now

So you don't have to work so hard
You can rest easy
You don't have to prove yourself

You're already mine  

You don't have to hide your heart
I already love you
I hold it in mine
So you can rest easy
You can rest easy

You work so hard to wear yourself down
And you're running like a rodeo clown
You're smiling like you're scared to death
You're out of faith and all out of breath
You're so afraid you've got nowhere left to go

Well, you are not alone
I will always be with you

So you don't have to work so hard
You can rest easy
You don't have to prove yourself
You're already mine
You don't have to hide your heart
I already love you
I hold it in mine
(You can rest easy)
You're already mine
(You can rest easy)
You're already mine
(You can rest easy)
You're already mine