September 6, 2023 • 34 mins
Welcome to Season 4 of the Returning to Joy Podcast! This week we continue with our new series, Sabbath Stories: Embracing Rest in a Restless World. Each episode we will unpack the sacred call to rest and renewal, as well as a practical practice to help you integrate rest rhythms into your life.
This episode's key concept: Rest is Resistance.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(06:48:52):
I was going to start thisepisode by saying, I'm so
excited to record this. And Irealized the reality is I am
each time so excited to recordwhatever it is that in that
space I've felt led to record,whether that's I'm doing an
interview with someone, or it'sjust me behind the mic. And this
(06:49:14):
time, it is just me behind themic. And I am, as you would have
guessed it, so excited. What I'mwanting us to dive into is to
talk about rest, to explorethat. And it's funny, about two
years ago, I don't always likeseek the Lord for like, what is
my word for the year, but twoyears ago, the word that the
(06:49:34):
Lord gave me for the year wasrest. And I remember thinking in
my mind, come on, let me get abetter word, like I know how to
rest. But rest is the word hegave me. And just as I was about
to start, as I was practicing inprepping for this time, I came
across First Corinthians eight,one that really convicted me
like reconvicted me, it says, Ifanyone imagines that he knows
(06:49:59):
something he does not know, ashe ought. So he read again, if
anyone assumes basically, thatthey know a thing, they probably
actually know nothing. That'sthe Gabrielle translation of
that. So I felt the sting of Oh,yeah, I was doing that I came in
thinking, I know what the restis. I know what it looks like.
(06:50:21):
There was nothing left for youto teach me there. Right? I
wouldn't have said that outloud. You know, but in my heart,
it was it was it was there, itwas present.
I think over these last twoyears, God has been continually
bringing me back to the conceptof the principle, the Kingdom
Principle of rest, and Sabbathrest, and what does that look
(06:50:43):
like? And so this season, we'regoing to be unpacking rest, you
know, is titled Sabbath stories.
And to give a little bit oflike, framing least for this
episode, I want to say thisthing, rest is resistance, among
many other things, right. Butrest is resistance. It is a form
of resistance. The first time wesee rest mentioned in the Bible
(06:51:06):
is actually in Genesis toGenesis chapter two, verse one,
our English translations willtranslate that Hebrew word as
rest, and the primaryconnotation of that word is
actually to cease abstain todesist from determinate, right?
That is the primary connotation,this scent, this resistance from
(06:51:30):
something, but the connotationthat we typically give to this
word, as we apply it today, isactually to be inactive. And
that just that just misses.
There is a form of rest, right?
That's just chill out, call thatchill, inactivity, just being
chill, I'm chilling, I'm hangingout, you know, we can still use
(06:51:50):
that language of rest. But ifwe're talking about the, the
biblical and kingdom concept ofrest, it actually isn't just a
inactivity, that's kind ofdiminishing of the potency of
like, what is happening in thosemoments in which something is
resting something is resistingfrom something, whether that be
a person, or a land, or apeople. And so I want to just
(06:52:13):
introduce that to you. That maynot be new news. But we're gonna
keep unpacking rest along theway. But that's the tidbit on
that word. For this time, ourtime together today. So we'll
talk about, you know, what, forthe people of God, what is rest?
What isn't it? And what are itsbenefits? Today, specifically,
(06:52:34):
the benefit that we're going toreflect and meditate on is the
space that rest gives us toconsider. I spent some time away
a month away, solo, onsabbatical, someone gave a
specific donation to me andsaid, I feel like the Lord is is
(06:52:55):
saying you need some time awayto rest. And it was crazy,
because I had been actuallypraying for about a month or
two, a couple months. If if Ineeded to step back for a
moment. And, and but I was notsure if like I was like God is
that just me and my just runningin my, my hearing you it's just
what I want. And then and thenalso like financially, it
doesn't really make sense rightnow. And then this person texted
(06:53:17):
me this randomly and I thought,well sign me up. I guess I am
going I'm going on a month longsabbatical. And so I did that
and they connected me actuallywith a prayer and retreat center
that Hannah has some Celticmonastic values that have shaped
(06:53:37):
the structure of it, but inWales, and
if I'm honest, I was a littlebit like Wales God. I don't know
I'm pretty sure the blackpopulation would, would double
for sure with my presence. Butthe nonetheless I was like,
(06:53:59):
Okay, I prayed about it. Okay,I'm going. And so I was among
this incredible community atFawlty Brennan, near the
Pembrokeshire Coast. And it wasincredible. I spent the first
five days maybe of my time therewas gone in total in a couple of
different countries. But intotal, I was gone for about 25
(06:54:22):
days. And day seven, I think, orsix was when I got to Wales. And
the first five days of my timethere I, I literally did
nothing. But look at flowers. Imean, the whole time, I mean,
I'm serious. Like I now therewas rhythms of prayer that the
(06:54:45):
community would invite you intonothing was forced to
participate in. And there werespaces. Yes, like I spend time
reading scripture.
And I and I did some timejournaling, or paint, or
watercolor was actuallysomething that I really found
myself enjoying to do, because Iwas inspired by it by the fields
around me. But I'm not I'm notjoking with you. When I say the
(06:55:08):
first five days, I spent justgazing at flowers at this prayer
and retreat center. One, it wasnestled in the middle of this
national park, like thePembrokeshire National Park, and
there's nothing but fields andfields and fields as far as the
(06:55:30):
eye can see, I mean, miles, youknow, to the the north, south,
east and west, you're like, wow,the Earth is expansive. And
actually, it's funny. Thepopulation of sheep outnumber
the people in Wales three toone. So also on hilltop, after
hilltop, I can see sheepgrazing. And then there was
some, some cows. And so you'dhear some noises occasionally.
(06:55:53):
And I spent time just looking atthe flowers that were
surrounding this prayer center,they had cultivated this
incredible garden. And so manyvarieties of flowers were just
everywhere surrounding the thespace in this little pond. And
those bunnies would, would hoparound and like eat at the grass
(06:56:16):
and eat it somewhere like theleaves. And so I would, I would
just sit there, whether it wasfrom my little small, small
place where I slept, I lookedthrough my little window, and
I'd stare at the flower at theflowers and these in this
gorgeous tree that it keptspeak, I don't know that tree
just felt like man is speakingto me something. And I don't
(06:56:38):
know what it is. But I was like,Lord, you want to say something
to me about this tree. Maybesomething will come eventually.
But I was just so drawn to whatI was seeing around me, I didn't
even know what it meant yet. Youknow, sometimes we can try and
assign meaning to something tooquickly. And we get out of the
way of just being present to itright and, and I was doing that
there was a part of me like,whether it was eight hours in or
(06:57:02):
to being present, or, or threedays into being in this space.
There's a little part of thatwas like, Ah, it's gotta be
something more valuable that Ican do with my time here like
make surely I should be in theprayer room more praying? Or
surely I should be like readingeven more scripture, or I don't
know, there's a search, surely,there's got to be something
better. But I felt the grace tolean into it that you know, that
(06:57:26):
that that thing in you that deepknowing that invitation of the
Holy Spirit of like, I thinkthat this is actually where I
need to be I think the best, thebest descriptor of it was be you
know, when Jesus talks aboutMary and Martha in that moment,
he's like, actually like Mary'sright where she needs to be.
There is this sense of, I thinkI'm actually right where I need
to be, though I feel theresistance to it. Because it's
(06:57:47):
contrary to my nature. It'scontrary to learn behavioral
patterns, right? Whether Ipicked it up from church or
culture, it's contrary. Andthere was some resistance
happening there. You see whatI'm getting word there. Like,
there was resistance. And thatactually was where the
invitation to rest was going tolook like. The resistance to me
(06:58:08):
was I need to start to shut mybrain down. To stop trying to
figure it out. Try stop tryingto like analyze it, stop trying
to assume I know what God'sgonna do stop trying to perform
my way into a better emotionalor spiritual state. And just
considerjust look, just gaze just
perceive. Jesus actually givesus an invitation into that very
(06:58:33):
exact thing. In Matthew chaptersix. It's so interesting when I
was telling people about thisexperience in Wales on these
first five days, and I got moreto talk about that we're not
done there. They one person waslike, Wow, that really sounds
like you know you got it.
talk to people about that. Thatsounds like you experienced,
(06:58:57):
maybe what Jesus was talkingabout when he says, Consider the
lilies. Look at the birds.
And I'm honest with you, andwe're gonna read through it, but
I'm wondering myself, like, wow,was Jesus prescribing for us a
meditative practice that we've,we haven't considered, we
haven't seen the value of we'vetrivialized it. We've assumed we
(06:59:19):
know. And maybe there's aninvitation for you like there
was an invitation for me torest. So in Matthew chapter six,
I'm reading a chapter six, Iwant to read verses 26 through
30, verse 26, says, Jesus says,Look at the birds of the air, I
want to stop right there for asecond, I've already spoken to
(06:59:41):
it, because I got ahead of thegame a little bit, but that word
look, some translations willtranslate consider, it is
saying, to observe, fixed li todiscern clearly to behold, gaze
up, look upon. See, that's whatJesus is. That's what whatever
is about to follow. Jesus istelling us to do that. Behold,
(07:00:04):
gaze up, look upon See, observefixedly, what is about to
follow? Look at the birds of theair, they do not sow, neither do
they reap. So look at the birdsof the air that they do not sow,
neither do they reap nor gatherinto barns, and yet your
heavenly Father feeds them isgiving us an instruction to look
(07:00:28):
at the birds. Beloved, when'sthe last time you looked at the
birds? When's the last timeyou've looked at the birds? And
I don't mean like those momentswhen you see oh, that's a pretty
one. When's the last time youtruly gazed fixed Li You fixed
your gaze upon a bird's what'swhat's interesting about that
is, we know that there's otherlanguage in the Bible that when
(07:00:48):
we think of when I think of fixmy gaze, I actually think about
that, in terms of like, fixingmy gaze on on Christ. I've never
thought about like, what wouldit look like to fix my gaze upon
this bird? And allow the HolySpirit to speak? Could God that
God could possibly actuallyrenew actually medicate anxiety?
(07:01:09):
Through me fixing my gaze uponthis bird, but it says, neither
do they reap nor gather intobarns, and yet your heavenly
Father feeds them? Are you notworth much more than they? Are
you not worth much more thanthey I love right there. It's
what's what's striking to me isJesus begins to disconnect,
(07:01:31):
their diligence, their labor,their travail, you know, there's
some there's some goodprinciples in here we know we
talk about the value of likesowing and reaping of planning
ahead, and Jesus disdisconnecting their actions,
some of these very good fromtheir worth and their value,
he's disconnecting it from them.
Then it says, verse 27, it says,And which of you, by being
(07:01:53):
anxious can add a single qubitqubit to your life to your
lifespan? I'm tripping over theScripture, but I'm not gonna
edit this. We keep going. Verse28, it says, And why are you
anxious about clothing? Observehow the lilies of the field
grow? And why are you anxiousabout clothing? Observe how the
lilies of the field grow, theydo not toil, nor do they spend
(07:02:16):
that word toil talking againabout this, like excessive
labor. That's that's that thatword is trying to describe a
kind of labor that leads intothis weariness and fatigue says
they do not toil nor do theyspin, I want to stop there and
kind of go back to that momentLewisburg those first five days
in Wales. So during that time,something that I was really
(07:02:38):
struck by as you know, I'mlooking at these flowers. And I
know and I, what I noticed, asI'm retelling this, about that
time, I noticed the enjoymentincrease, like I just I, I was
enjoying it. I wasn't sure ifyou know if it was the best use
of time, right? But I enjoyedit, I noticed that my strength
(07:02:58):
and delight was increasing. I'dlook at these flowers. And after
I'd maybe I'd spend like acouple of hours, like literally
like watching the flowers or I'mwalking through a field. And
there's weeds growing all aroundme or there's, you know,
different like wheat that'sgrowing up. And I'd have these
moments where I would just breakinto song. I wanted to worship,
(07:03:21):
no one had to tell me to no onehad to tell me like Well, we
know we're in a very spiritualplace. So you should probably
praise the Lord. Maybe intercedefor that person that you know is
going through chemo right now.
No one had to tell me to dothat. I I was seeing these
(07:03:43):
flowers and and I was seeing theearth and watching it and
watching the way they wereresponding to the wind. Because
it is let me tell you it is whenMe, in Wales, Ireland and I went
to Ireland as well too. Andthat's, that's, that's a
different type of rain rain. Andthat's a different type of wind
that I've never experienced inmy life. But Wales still had
some intensity to it. And, andI'd watched these flowers just
(07:04:06):
move and sway in the wind ontimes when it was a little bit
more peaceful and calm. And onenight there was this. There was
I felt a little heartbrokenbecause it was like, maybe day
four. And so now I've I've grownthis, you know, attachment to
these flowers I make I feelconnected to them. Now. I'm
like, No, you don't need tolive. And there's a lot of them.
But there's one night wherethere was an intense storm.
(07:04:30):
Actually, it was like an earlymorning deal. And it was
intense. And the wind was reallycrazy. And I'm like, Are these
flowers gonna make it and x itwas like struggling like, Lord
like, it's crazy. Anyways, I'msuper digressing. I'm gonna come
back. So. But I'm, after lookingat these flowers for a while, I
also noticed a sense of exposureand invulnerability. And what I
(07:04:51):
mean when I say that, I will saya part of it was, I look at
these flowers, and I could seetheir value. Right? I was seeing
me and like they make me want toworship. And it was easy. And
also they they I feel enjoyment.
I'm delighted just looking atthem. I feel strengthened, just
looking at them. It was easy tosee the value of what they bring
(07:05:12):
every single one of them right.
But I but I began to realize GodI can see and I spoke to I said
this to the Lord in prayer onetime or just you know which
prayer for me. It's justconversation. I said, God, I see
their value. But if I'm honest,I don't see my own. It's clear
to me why these flowers need tobe here on this earth. But
honestly, I don't know why Ineed to be here. Because this is
(07:05:33):
a very big world. You got verybig, it's expensive. This land
I'm alright Wales is a very tinycountry. And yet it to as I'm
standing here in this on thishilltop seems very expansive.
There's a lot of people on theearth, what value am I bringing
here? And I also don't know if Ican continue to try and create
value because that's the otherthing that I noticed is by
(07:05:59):
considering these, these flowersthat Jesus speaks to in verse
20. He literally says they don'tthey do not toil, nor do they
spin. I don't know what thatword really means. And I looked
that one up, but I'm looking andI'm going and I didn't have I
didn't read this verse. Again.
This was this chapter wasn'teven in my mind as I'm doing
this, right? It wasn't in mymind. But I'm looking at these
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flowers, and I'm begin to talkto the Lord, I say, Jesus, I'm
frustrated, I was wrestling, itcaused me to wrestle and be
frustrated, because I'm like, itlooks so easy for them. They're
just there. And I can clearlysee how they bring glory to God,
I can clearly see their work, Ican clearly see their purpose, I
can clearly see what they bringto the earth. But God, I don't
(07:06:42):
see mines. And it looks so easyfor them. They're just right
there. They don't seem likethey're stressed. I was like
God, I feel stressed aboutbringing you glory. But yet I
look at these flowers, and theydon't seem stressed. They don't
seem stiff and uptight andstruggling and, and just be down
(07:07:04):
and heavy laden and overwhelmed.
All in an attempt to glorifyYou. They just move with the
wind. They just, they're rootedin their place there and they
glorify, I want to praise yourname because I see them. Each
and every one of them I wrestledthe fruit of this consideration
that's prescribed in Matthew sixwas that well, there's a couple
(07:07:24):
of routes to it. I'm trying towrap this into a nice late tide
boba man, there's a lot offruits from this time of
consideration. But this is topoint to maybe a couple one, I
will say that and I mentionedthis one quickly. Remember I
said those first five days Ijust felt invited to consider to
look and what I realized is thatman, I'm enjoy I feel enjoyment
in this, you know, Iwatercolored some some leads in
(07:07:46):
based off of what I was seeing,at one time in the prayer room,
maybe after these after that,for that period of those days.
I'm listening to the Lord and Ijust feel like I hear him
whisper when I say God, like,what do you want to speak to me?
It was the first time I hadasked that question because I
didn't want to put pressure ontrying to hear God's voice or
discern anything in this time.
And I felt as clear as day in myheart. I feel like I heard the
(07:08:08):
Lord say, I enjoy you. And Iwept like a baby in this
incredible, my kind ofunderground prayer room. And I
know for a fact that there is noway I would have that would have
struck the depth of my heartlike you did if I didn't first
experience enjoyment among thoseflowers feeds wanting to know
(07:08:29):
that the Lord loves us. But Iwant to tell you right now
Beloved's that God enjoys you.
He enjoys your presence. Heenjoys your voice. He enjoys
your heart. He wants to be withyou. Because I'm like, Man, my
God, you gotta love me. Right?
We can get so used to hearingthat over and over again that we
trivialize it too, and it stayssurface but God also enjoys you.
So that was a fruit but also Irealized my life
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glorifies God, my life glorifiesGod. So when I said that
earlier, I said that I feltvulnerable. One of the things I
noticed about myself as I waslooking at these lilies, in
these birds, and the wind in thefields was that I felt explorer
exposed and vulnerable, youknow, and so part of that made
me realize, like, Oh, I seetheir value, but not my own. But
(07:09:15):
the other thing that exposed mewas, I realized that in my head,
I was aware of the truth.
But my internal operatingsystem, right, what was actually
what what I was actually moving,thinking, believing and choosing
based off of, was functioningoff the belief system, that my
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existence is tied up inperformance, my ability to
perform well, based on, youknow, things defined by the
church or the culture, but restgave me the power to practice
resistance of that false yourexistence, the value of your
existence is not tied up in yourperformance. It's not tied up in
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it, you are of worth of morevalue than these Lily's been
these birds. And is not becausewhat you're doing is not because
of your work, your labor, yourgood your good deeds, the things
your self righteousness, thethings that you're doing or
you're not doing. It is simplybecause you are a child of God,
you have been crafted andcreated in the image of God and
(07:10:20):
you living brings him glory. Letme backtrack, there is a
literally I mean, if I'm honest,last year, there was a I was
really devastated from abreakup. That happened last year
that I really had some somesolid hopes around. But it just
became clear if I actually like,Nope, we are going to be we are
need to part ways and go indifferent direction. And I was
(07:10:42):
devastated about it. Great guy.
And there was one day where Ireally struggled to get up and
get out of bed. Minus I waslike, the morning came, my alarm
went off. And I was just like,God, I don't want to do it. Why
you gotta give me a reason,guys, but because it wasn't just
the breakup situation. But therewas, I just felt I was like,
God, I don't. I don't. What Irealized what was happening was
(07:11:03):
like, I think I was rejectinggetting up another day, and
trying to earn love, whetherthat be in ministry, whether
that be in volunteering, whetherthat be in care for other
people, whether it be in arelationship, whatever it be, it
was like I'm fatigued, I'mtired. I don't want to do it
anymore. I cannot do it anymore.
(07:11:26):
You gotta give me reason tolive. You gotta give me reason
to get out of this bed. Andthat's what I'm kind of mean by
that, like, God, you gotta Ihave no reason. You gotta give
it to me. Because I felt beatdown. I realize that, you know,
there's a verse there's severalverses, right, actually. So in
First Corinthians 10, verse 33,it says, Therefore, whether you
eat or drink or webby, orwhatever you do, do it all do
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all things for the glory of God,how that God translated in my
head was like, Yeah, I live forthe glory of God. I've heard
countless sermons on this.
Right? There's, there's otherplaces where that show where
that language shows up. But thisverse For sure of, you know,
whatever you do, do it all forthe glory of God. And somehow,
that got translated in my headas like, Glory equals
performance, though, let me andit also got tied to the kinds of
(07:12:13):
things to do like okay, worship,okay, read my Bible, okay. Um,
acts of justice, likeproclaiming truth, seeing the
poor, seeing the widow seeingthe orphan, it got, you know, it
got abused, it got twisted. Andthat's the thing about a lie,
like, every time lies always,they have a little bit of truth
(07:12:34):
in them. That's how our enemyworks. There's a little bit of
truth, they're not completelyfalse. Yes, we're to live for
the glory of God, there's truthin that statement, it is true.
There is truth in that, but thenour interpretations can get a
little twisted, and it deceivesus, you know, like, I realized I
was subconsciously interpretingthat in this like fish with
this, like, Christianese licenseto strive, really, that's what
(07:12:57):
was going on. See willspiritualize actions that are
actually not rooted in Christ.
They're rooted in pride,performance, a Savior, complex
guilt, but burnout will humbleus real quick, so you're
listening and you're like, yes,it will. It is. It has. So on
(07:13:17):
that day, going back to my bed,when I'm sitting there, I'm
lying there. And I'm tellingGod, you gotta give me a reason.
Like, because I hear live forthe glory of God, as this heavy
weight it is if somebody reallydoes have their foot on my neck,
that is what that statement isdoing for me right now. And I
just feel like there was justthis moment where it just it
(07:13:40):
clicked that spoke to my spiritand it was like Gabrielle, I
love the Lord will forsympathize with us. For God God
on my level is God always doesright. I mean, Jesus got on my
level.
I was like, I know. It's hard tolive. It's hard to live. Living
is is a choice. It is not easy.
It takes a whole lot of courage,a whole lot of strength that
(07:14:02):
often we do not have, you do nothave. But if you will live
today, I promise you, your life,your living will glorify Me. And
when I tell you, I wish therewere words to describe that
moment, but all I know is Godspoke those words to me and I
had I had courage to get out ofthe bed. I didn't have shame in
(07:14:23):
it. There wasn't shame, andoverwhelmed keeping me in the
bed. There was courage to propelme out of the bed. Because in
that moment, all of a sudden, Irealized, oh, yeah, there was
this reality for me in thatmoment of like, oh my gosh, like
I yeah, I'm gonna live and mylife because I'm connected to
Christ like it. It, it willglorify the Lord. Right, like,
(07:14:47):
my life is inextricablyinextricably Yeah, there we go
linked to Christ, likeColossians three, versus three
says, it says, I've died, I'vedied, you've died. And the life
that I live today is now hiddenwithin Christ's life that I'm
living in the flesh in this bodyof mines is now hidden in
(07:15:09):
Christ. And when Christ who isnow our life appears like so
will, will you, you and I bothbe revealed, or you've got
Galatians 220, where it says,you no longer live, but Christ
lives in you. And the life younow live in the flesh. You live
in faith in the power of thesun. I walk in communion with
(07:15:29):
Christ, I walk with him, that'sthe one who's living right now.
I'm being molded in his imagebeing renewed, and redeemed, I'm
walking in connection. And as aresult, I just get to choose to
I just get to live not notconnected to the things I do but
(07:15:51):
connected to the one I'm with.
So I moved from glory beingconnected to performance to
glory, being connected to newlife. And that wasn't that
wasn't a heavy yoke that renewedmy strength that renewed my
courage. I could live for that.
I could live I was I was like,God i i see these flowers and
(07:16:12):
they make me want to worship andI'm going
God I am they're not anxious.
They don't I just really likethis. No, you know, you just
feel spoke you like they're notthey're not wrestling enough
fighting, like I'm fighting God,show me how to live like that.
And we don't have great modelsfor that, right? We're all
trying to get this. We're alltrying to get this right doing
the best we can. So theinvitation from crisis to
(07:16:34):
consider the lilies. You'relike, I don't have a model for
rest. No one taught me how to dothat. Everyone around me is
burned out and tired andstruggling and striving and John
to put on a good face and makeit seem like they're good, but
they need they are not Christgives us the invitation to
consider to fix league gaze uponthe birds, the flowers, the
lilies. So what's theapplication here? Oh, and also
(07:16:57):
this is really cool. This, I'mgonna go off on a tangent, like
I kind of do typically.
I was torn because this, thisinvitation from Christ appears
in two different parts of the inin Matthew as well as Luke. And
I wasn't sure which chapter Iwould read from. And when I
turned to Matthew, literallynext to this chapter was a note
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that I guess someone wrote meand put in my Bible can't make
this up. And literally in thenote, it says you are planted,
rooted. For the display of hissplendor, you can't make this
up. That's what I read rightbefore recording this, you are
planted rooted in the display ofhis splendor, there are so many
varieties of flowers, there areso many flowers out there like I
(07:17:42):
literally it was fields andfields of flowers all around
this building. There were avariety and there were repeats.
And the lawyer was speaking tome about the value of the
variety and the vowed value ofthe repeats because you're gonna
be like, God, there's like 16Roses right here. Right, but
nobody had nobody says thatabout flowers or like this 16
Roses like surely oh, theseroses, got some away. Right?
(07:18:04):
Like, it sounds dumb. It soundssilly. But but we do that about
ourselves. We're like, God,there's like, you know, every
everybody's teaching in this wayor like God, there's other
people that are doing a muchbetter job like trying to solve
problems around housing in mycity. Do I need to also try and
engage with that? There's otherpeople who are better equipped
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at it.
And gods like, yes. Add to thesymphony. That's something that
God was showing me. Like thisfield we see us that's part of
the harm in our overindividualized.
So society, here in the West, isthat that anxiety about who you
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are and your worth and yourvalue, like, you would think it
would be the opposite, but thatactually can
Um, I believe more when we'rehyper individualistic, because
we're like, oh, I'm this flowerright here. And I'm this rose,
and there's like 18 other roomof them. But when we think about
the collective, when we thinkabout stepping back, and like
that experience you have whenyou're gazing at a field of
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roses, a field of thesewildflowers, flowers, these this
variety, you recognize, oh, mygosh,
this, all of it is adding tothis symphony, this this, this
gorgeous display a splendor thatwould miss something. If this
was taken away, there is not asense of too much, right?
(07:19:32):
There's not like, oh, there'stoo much. That's oversaturated
over there. Let me not let menot get in on that. No, we don't
look at we don't say that whenwe look at a field of lilies. In
fact, like I invite you, it's,it's beautiful to step in
closer. And actually, you'llrealize, few flowers actually
look exactly the same. If youreally lean in and look at them,
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they don't actually look thesame exact same, they actually
aren't completely shaped thesame. But we only see that by
coming in close and consideringso here's the application, I
want to invite you to threethings. The first one is go to a
place you enjoy. preferably onethat's that's outside, where you
can observe creation things thatwe need that right. We need
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creation to model for us whatrest looks like. And then as
you're outside, wherever youare, I want you to ask the Holy
Spirit to guide your focus. Asyou walk for five minutes, I
want you to notice what grabbedyour attention and consider what
God might be saying might betrying to tell you like if there
was something that grabbed yourattention, remain there for a
(07:20:35):
while, as long as you can reallytake a walk to survey the area
and do that for five minutes.
But then go back and be like andnotice what grabbed my attention
sit and linger there with that.
Maybe eventually asked thequestion guy What are you
wanting meat? What do you whatdo you want and to speak through
this? And then respond. That'skind of open to interpretation.
(07:20:55):
I mean by that join the currentchorus Beloved's express your
appreciation with your life,what do you want to do as a
result of what you justwitnessed? Do you want to
worship, play some worshipmusic? Do you want to call up a
friend? And encourage them? Godo that? Sure. Do you want to
now make a rhythm of that inyour life? Amazing. You want to
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open up the word and study dothat? Is there some idea that
drops in your spirit? Amazing,but just respond those lilies,
that's what they were doing.
They were responding tons ofthem different varieties, but
every single one of them wasneeded. It was a chorus, not
just one flower that inspired meto praise and to live, but it
was all of them. And it was alsosingled out ones I will stop at
(07:21:41):
different ones. So live, live,beloved, live, and your life
will be to the glory of God.
I was going to start thisepisode by saying, I'm so
excited to record this. And Irealized the reality is I am
each time so excited to recordwhatever it is that in that
space I've felt led to record,whether that's I'm doing an
interview with someone, or it'sjust me behind the mic. And this
(06:49:14):
time, it is just me behind themic. And I am, as you would have
guessed it, so excited. What I'mwanting us to dive into is to
talk about rest, to explorethat. And it's funny, about two
years ago, I don't always likeseek the Lord for like, what is
my word for the year, but twoyears ago, the word that the
(06:49:34):
Lord gave me for the year wasrest. And I remember thinking in
my mind, come on, let me get abetter word, like I know how to
rest. But rest is the word hegave me. And just as I was about
to start, as I was practicing inprepping for this time, I came
across First Corinthians eight,one that really convicted me
like reconvicted me, it says, Ifanyone imagines that he knows
(06:49:59):
something he does not know, ashe ought. So he read again, if
anyone assumes basically, thatthey know a thing, they probably
actually know nothing. That'sthe Gabrielle translation of
that. So I felt the sting of Oh,yeah, I was doing that I came in
thinking, I know what the restis. I know what it looks like.
(06:50:21):
There was nothing left for youto teach me there. Right? I
wouldn't have said that outloud. You know, but in my heart,
it was it was it was there, itwas present.
I think over these last twoyears, God has been continually
bringing me back to the conceptof the principle, the Kingdom
Principle of rest, and Sabbathrest, and what does that look
(06:50:43):
like? And so this season, we'regoing to be unpacking rest, you
know, is titled Sabbath stories.
And to give a little bit oflike, framing least for this
episode, I want to say thisthing, rest is resistance, among
many other things, right. Butrest is resistance. It is a form
of resistance. The first time wesee rest mentioned in the Bible
(06:51:06):
is actually in Genesis toGenesis chapter two, verse one,
our English translations willtranslate that Hebrew word as
rest, and the primaryconnotation of that word is
actually to cease abstain todesist from determinate, right?
That is the primary connotation,this scent, this resistance from
(06:51:30):
something, but the connotationthat we typically give to this
word, as we apply it today, isactually to be inactive. And
that just that just misses.
There is a form of rest, right?
That's just chill out, call thatchill, inactivity, just being
chill, I'm chilling, I'm hangingout, you know, we can still use
(06:51:50):
that language of rest. But ifwe're talking about the, the
biblical and kingdom concept ofrest, it actually isn't just a
inactivity, that's kind ofdiminishing of the potency of
like, what is happening in thosemoments in which something is
resting something is resistingfrom something, whether that be
a person, or a land, or apeople. And so I want to just
(06:52:13):
introduce that to you. That maynot be new news. But we're gonna
keep unpacking rest along theway. But that's the tidbit on
that word. For this time, ourtime together today. So we'll
talk about, you know, what, forthe people of God, what is rest?
What isn't it? And what are itsbenefits? Today, specifically,
(06:52:34):
the benefit that we're going toreflect and meditate on is the
space that rest gives us toconsider. I spent some time away
a month away, solo, onsabbatical, someone gave a
specific donation to me andsaid, I feel like the Lord is is
(06:52:55):
saying you need some time awayto rest. And it was crazy,
because I had been actuallypraying for about a month or
two, a couple months. If if Ineeded to step back for a
moment. And, and but I was notsure if like I was like God is
that just me and my just runningin my, my hearing you it's just
what I want. And then and thenalso like financially, it
doesn't really make sense rightnow. And then this person texted
(06:53:17):
me this randomly and I thought,well sign me up. I guess I am
going I'm going on a month longsabbatical. And so I did that
and they connected me actuallywith a prayer and retreat center
that Hannah has some Celticmonastic values that have shaped
(06:53:37):
the structure of it, but inWales, and
if I'm honest, I was a littlebit like Wales God. I don't know
I'm pretty sure the blackpopulation would, would double
for sure with my presence. Butthe nonetheless I was like,
(06:53:59):
Okay, I prayed about it. Okay,I'm going. And so I was among
this incredible community atFawlty Brennan, near the
Pembrokeshire Coast. And it wasincredible. I spent the first
five days maybe of my time therewas gone in total in a couple of
different countries. But intotal, I was gone for about 25
(06:54:22):
days. And day seven, I think, orsix was when I got to Wales. And
the first five days of my timethere I, I literally did
nothing. But look at flowers. Imean, the whole time, I mean,
I'm serious. Like I now therewas rhythms of prayer that the
(06:54:45):
community would invite you intonothing was forced to
participate in. And there werespaces. Yes, like I spend time
reading scripture.
And I and I did some timejournaling, or paint, or
watercolor was actuallysomething that I really found
myself enjoying to do, because Iwas inspired by it by the fields
around me. But I'm not I'm notjoking with you. When I say the
(06:55:08):
first five days, I spent justgazing at flowers at this prayer
and retreat center. One, it wasnestled in the middle of this
national park, like thePembrokeshire National Park, and
there's nothing but fields andfields and fields as far as the
(06:55:30):
eye can see, I mean, miles, youknow, to the the north, south,
east and west, you're like, wow,the Earth is expansive. And
actually, it's funny. Thepopulation of sheep outnumber
the people in Wales three toone. So also on hilltop, after
hilltop, I can see sheepgrazing. And then there was
some, some cows. And so you'dhear some noises occasionally.
(06:55:53):
And I spent time just looking atthe flowers that were
surrounding this prayer center,they had cultivated this
incredible garden. And so manyvarieties of flowers were just
everywhere surrounding the thespace in this little pond. And
those bunnies would, would hoparound and like eat at the grass
(06:56:16):
and eat it somewhere like theleaves. And so I would, I would
just sit there, whether it wasfrom my little small, small
place where I slept, I lookedthrough my little window, and
I'd stare at the flower at theflowers and these in this
gorgeous tree that it keptspeak, I don't know that tree
just felt like man is speakingto me something. And I don't
(06:56:38):
know what it is. But I was like,Lord, you want to say something
to me about this tree. Maybesomething will come eventually.
But I was just so drawn to whatI was seeing around me, I didn't
even know what it meant yet. Youknow, sometimes we can try and
assign meaning to something tooquickly. And we get out of the
way of just being present to itright and, and I was doing that
there was a part of me like,whether it was eight hours in or
(06:57:02):
to being present, or, or threedays into being in this space.
There's a little part of thatwas like, Ah, it's gotta be
something more valuable that Ican do with my time here like
make surely I should be in theprayer room more praying? Or
surely I should be like readingeven more scripture, or I don't
know, there's a search, surely,there's got to be something
better. But I felt the grace tolean into it that you know, that
(06:57:26):
that that thing in you that deepknowing that invitation of the
Holy Spirit of like, I thinkthat this is actually where I
need to be I think the best, thebest descriptor of it was be you
know, when Jesus talks aboutMary and Martha in that moment,
he's like, actually like Mary'sright where she needs to be.
There is this sense of, I thinkI'm actually right where I need
to be, though I feel theresistance to it. Because it's
(06:57:47):
contrary to my nature. It'scontrary to learn behavioral
patterns, right? Whether Ipicked it up from church or
culture, it's contrary. Andthere was some resistance
happening there. You see whatI'm getting word there. Like,
there was resistance. And thatactually was where the
invitation to rest was going tolook like. The resistance to me
(06:58:08):
was I need to start to shut mybrain down. To stop trying to
figure it out. Try stop tryingto like analyze it, stop trying
to assume I know what God'sgonna do stop trying to perform
my way into a better emotionalor spiritual state. And just
considerjust look, just gaze just
perceive. Jesus actually givesus an invitation into that very
(06:58:33):
exact thing. In Matthew chaptersix. It's so interesting when I
was telling people about thisexperience in Wales on these
first five days, and I got moreto talk about that we're not
done there. They one person waslike, Wow, that really sounds
like you know you got it.
talk to people about that. Thatsounds like you experienced,
(06:58:57):
maybe what Jesus was talkingabout when he says, Consider the
lilies. Look at the birds.
And I'm honest with you, andwe're gonna read through it, but
I'm wondering myself, like, wow,was Jesus prescribing for us a
meditative practice that we've,we haven't considered, we
haven't seen the value of we'vetrivialized it. We've assumed we
(06:59:19):
know. And maybe there's aninvitation for you like there
was an invitation for me torest. So in Matthew chapter six,
I'm reading a chapter six, Iwant to read verses 26 through
30, verse 26, says, Jesus says,Look at the birds of the air, I
want to stop right there for asecond, I've already spoken to
(06:59:41):
it, because I got ahead of thegame a little bit, but that word
look, some translations willtranslate consider, it is
saying, to observe, fixed li todiscern clearly to behold, gaze
up, look upon. See, that's whatJesus is. That's what whatever
is about to follow. Jesus istelling us to do that. Behold,
(07:00:04):
gaze up, look upon See, observefixedly, what is about to
follow? Look at the birds of theair, they do not sow, neither do
they reap. So look at the birdsof the air that they do not sow,
neither do they reap nor gatherinto barns, and yet your
heavenly Father feeds them isgiving us an instruction to look
(07:00:28):
at the birds. Beloved, when'sthe last time you looked at the
birds? When's the last timeyou've looked at the birds? And
I don't mean like those momentswhen you see oh, that's a pretty
one. When's the last time youtruly gazed fixed Li You fixed
your gaze upon a bird's what'swhat's interesting about that
is, we know that there's otherlanguage in the Bible that when
(07:00:48):
we think of when I think of fixmy gaze, I actually think about
that, in terms of like, fixingmy gaze on on Christ. I've never
thought about like, what wouldit look like to fix my gaze upon
this bird? And allow the HolySpirit to speak? Could God that
God could possibly actuallyrenew actually medicate anxiety?
(07:01:09):
Through me fixing my gaze uponthis bird, but it says, neither
do they reap nor gather intobarns, and yet your heavenly
Father feeds them? Are you notworth much more than they? Are
you not worth much more thanthey I love right there. It's
what's what's striking to me isJesus begins to disconnect,
(07:01:31):
their diligence, their labor,their travail, you know, there's
some there's some goodprinciples in here we know we
talk about the value of likesowing and reaping of planning
ahead, and Jesus disdisconnecting their actions,
some of these very good fromtheir worth and their value,
he's disconnecting it from them.
Then it says, verse 27, it says,And which of you, by being
(07:01:53):
anxious can add a single qubitqubit to your life to your
lifespan? I'm tripping over theScripture, but I'm not gonna
edit this. We keep going. Verse28, it says, And why are you
anxious about clothing? Observehow the lilies of the field
grow? And why are you anxiousabout clothing? Observe how the
lilies of the field grow, theydo not toil, nor do they spend
(07:02:16):
that word toil talking againabout this, like excessive
labor. That's that's that thatword is trying to describe a
kind of labor that leads intothis weariness and fatigue says
they do not toil nor do theyspin, I want to stop there and
kind of go back to that momentLewisburg those first five days
in Wales. So during that time,something that I was really
(07:02:38):
struck by as you know, I'mlooking at these flowers. And I
know and I, what I noticed, asI'm retelling this, about that
time, I noticed the enjoymentincrease, like I just I, I was
enjoying it. I wasn't sure ifyou know if it was the best use
of time, right? But I enjoyedit, I noticed that my strength
(07:02:58):
and delight was increasing. I'dlook at these flowers. And after
I'd maybe I'd spend like acouple of hours, like literally
like watching the flowers or I'mwalking through a field. And
there's weeds growing all aroundme or there's, you know,
different like wheat that'sgrowing up. And I'd have these
moments where I would just breakinto song. I wanted to worship,
(07:03:21):
no one had to tell me to no onehad to tell me like Well, we
know we're in a very spiritualplace. So you should probably
praise the Lord. Maybe intercedefor that person that you know is
going through chemo right now.
No one had to tell me to dothat. I I was seeing these
(07:03:43):
flowers and and I was seeing theearth and watching it and
watching the way they wereresponding to the wind. Because
it is let me tell you it is whenMe, in Wales, Ireland and I went
to Ireland as well too. Andthat's, that's, that's a
different type of rain rain. Andthat's a different type of wind
that I've never experienced inmy life. But Wales still had
some intensity to it. And, andI'd watched these flowers just
(07:04:06):
move and sway in the wind ontimes when it was a little bit
more peaceful and calm. And onenight there was this. There was
I felt a little heartbrokenbecause it was like, maybe day
four. And so now I've I've grownthis, you know, attachment to
these flowers I make I feelconnected to them. Now. I'm
like, No, you don't need tolive. And there's a lot of them.
But there's one night wherethere was an intense storm.
(07:04:30):
Actually, it was like an earlymorning deal. And it was
intense. And the wind was reallycrazy. And I'm like, Are these
flowers gonna make it and x itwas like struggling like, Lord
like, it's crazy. Anyways, I'msuper digressing. I'm gonna come
back. So. But I'm, after lookingat these flowers for a while, I
also noticed a sense of exposureand invulnerability. And what I
(07:04:51):
mean when I say that, I will saya part of it was, I look at
these flowers, and I could seetheir value. Right? I was seeing
me and like they make me want toworship. And it was easy. And
also they they I feel enjoyment.
I'm delighted just looking atthem. I feel strengthened, just
looking at them. It was easy tosee the value of what they bring
(07:05:12):
every single one of them right.
But I but I began to realize GodI can see and I spoke to I said
this to the Lord in prayer onetime or just you know which
prayer for me. It's justconversation. I said, God, I see
their value. But if I'm honest,I don't see my own. It's clear
to me why these flowers need tobe here on this earth. But
honestly, I don't know why Ineed to be here. Because this is
(07:05:33):
a very big world. You got verybig, it's expensive. This land
I'm alright Wales is a very tinycountry. And yet it to as I'm
standing here in this on thishilltop seems very expansive.
There's a lot of people on theearth, what value am I bringing
here? And I also don't know if Ican continue to try and create
value because that's the otherthing that I noticed is by
(07:05:59):
considering these, these flowersthat Jesus speaks to in verse
20. He literally says they don'tthey do not toil, nor do they
spin. I don't know what thatword really means. And I looked
that one up, but I'm looking andI'm going and I didn't have I
didn't read this verse. Again.
This was this chapter wasn'teven in my mind as I'm doing
this, right? It wasn't in mymind. But I'm looking at these
(07:06:21):
flowers, and I'm begin to talkto the Lord, I say, Jesus, I'm
frustrated, I was wrestling, itcaused me to wrestle and be
frustrated, because I'm like, itlooks so easy for them. They're
just there. And I can clearlysee how they bring glory to God,
I can clearly see their work, Ican clearly see their purpose, I
can clearly see what they bringto the earth. But God, I don't
(07:06:42):
see mines. And it looks so easyfor them. They're just right
there. They don't seem likethey're stressed. I was like
God, I feel stressed aboutbringing you glory. But yet I
look at these flowers, and theydon't seem stressed. They don't
seem stiff and uptight andstruggling and, and just be down
(07:07:04):
and heavy laden and overwhelmed.
All in an attempt to glorifyYou. They just move with the
wind. They just, they're rootedin their place there and they
glorify, I want to praise yourname because I see them. Each
and every one of them I wrestledthe fruit of this consideration
that's prescribed in Matthew sixwas that well, there's a couple
(07:07:24):
of routes to it. I'm trying towrap this into a nice late tide
boba man, there's a lot offruits from this time of
consideration. But this is topoint to maybe a couple one, I
will say that and I mentionedthis one quickly. Remember I
said those first five days Ijust felt invited to consider to
look and what I realized is thatman, I'm enjoy I feel enjoyment
in this, you know, Iwatercolored some some leads in
(07:07:46):
based off of what I was seeing,at one time in the prayer room,
maybe after these after that,for that period of those days.
I'm listening to the Lord and Ijust feel like I hear him
whisper when I say God, like,what do you want to speak to me?
It was the first time I hadasked that question because I
didn't want to put pressure ontrying to hear God's voice or
discern anything in this time.
And I felt as clear as day in myheart. I feel like I heard the
(07:08:08):
Lord say, I enjoy you. And Iwept like a baby in this
incredible, my kind ofunderground prayer room. And I
know for a fact that there is noway I would have that would have
struck the depth of my heartlike you did if I didn't first
experience enjoyment among thoseflowers feeds wanting to know
(07:08:29):
that the Lord loves us. But Iwant to tell you right now
Beloved's that God enjoys you.
He enjoys your presence. Heenjoys your voice. He enjoys
your heart. He wants to be withyou. Because I'm like, Man, my
God, you gotta love me. Right?
We can get so used to hearingthat over and over again that we
trivialize it too, and it stayssurface but God also enjoys you.
So that was a fruit but also Irealized my life
(07:08:53):
glorifies God, my life glorifiesGod. So when I said that
earlier, I said that I feltvulnerable. One of the things I
noticed about myself as I waslooking at these lilies, in
these birds, and the wind in thefields was that I felt explorer
exposed and vulnerable, youknow, and so part of that made
me realize, like, Oh, I seetheir value, but not my own. But
(07:09:15):
the other thing that exposed mewas, I realized that in my head,
I was aware of the truth.
But my internal operatingsystem, right, what was actually
what what I was actually moving,thinking, believing and choosing
based off of, was functioningoff the belief system, that my
(07:09:36):
existence is tied up inperformance, my ability to
perform well, based on, youknow, things defined by the
church or the culture, but restgave me the power to practice
resistance of that false yourexistence, the value of your
existence is not tied up in yourperformance. It's not tied up in
(07:09:59):
it, you are of worth of morevalue than these Lily's been
these birds. And is not becausewhat you're doing is not because
of your work, your labor, yourgood your good deeds, the things
your self righteousness, thethings that you're doing or
you're not doing. It is simplybecause you are a child of God,
you have been crafted andcreated in the image of God and
(07:10:20):
you living brings him glory. Letme backtrack, there is a
literally I mean, if I'm honest,last year, there was a I was
really devastated from abreakup. That happened last year
that I really had some somesolid hopes around. But it just
became clear if I actually like,Nope, we are going to be we are
need to part ways and go indifferent direction. And I was
(07:10:42):
devastated about it. Great guy.
And there was one day where Ireally struggled to get up and
get out of bed. Minus I waslike, the morning came, my alarm
went off. And I was just like,God, I don't want to do it. Why
you gotta give me a reason,guys, but because it wasn't just
the breakup situation. But therewas, I just felt I was like,
God, I don't. I don't. What Irealized what was happening was
(07:11:03):
like, I think I was rejectinggetting up another day, and
trying to earn love, whetherthat be in ministry, whether
that be in volunteering, whetherthat be in care for other
people, whether it be in arelationship, whatever it be, it
was like I'm fatigued, I'mtired. I don't want to do it
anymore. I cannot do it anymore.
(07:11:26):
You gotta give me reason tolive. You gotta give me reason
to get out of this bed. Andthat's what I'm kind of mean by
that, like, God, you gotta Ihave no reason. You gotta give
it to me. Because I felt beatdown. I realize that, you know,
there's a verse there's severalverses, right, actually. So in
First Corinthians 10, verse 33,it says, Therefore, whether you
eat or drink or webby, orwhatever you do, do it all do
(07:11:48):
all things for the glory of God,how that God translated in my
head was like, Yeah, I live forthe glory of God. I've heard
countless sermons on this.
Right? There's, there's otherplaces where that show where
that language shows up. But thisverse For sure of, you know,
whatever you do, do it all forthe glory of God. And somehow,
that got translated in my headas like, Glory equals
performance, though, let me andit also got tied to the kinds of
(07:12:13):
things to do like okay, worship,okay, read my Bible, okay. Um,
acts of justice, likeproclaiming truth, seeing the
poor, seeing the widow seeingthe orphan, it got, you know, it
got abused, it got twisted. Andthat's the thing about a lie,
like, every time lies always,they have a little bit of truth
(07:12:34):
in them. That's how our enemyworks. There's a little bit of
truth, they're not completelyfalse. Yes, we're to live for
the glory of God, there's truthin that statement, it is true.
There is truth in that, but thenour interpretations can get a
little twisted, and it deceivesus, you know, like, I realized I
was subconsciously interpretingthat in this like fish with
this, like, Christianese licenseto strive, really, that's what
(07:12:57):
was going on. See willspiritualize actions that are
actually not rooted in Christ.
They're rooted in pride,performance, a Savior, complex
guilt, but burnout will humbleus real quick, so you're
listening and you're like, yes,it will. It is. It has. So on
(07:13:17):
that day, going back to my bed,when I'm sitting there, I'm
lying there. And I'm tellingGod, you gotta give me a reason.
Like, because I hear live forthe glory of God, as this heavy
weight it is if somebody reallydoes have their foot on my neck,
that is what that statement isdoing for me right now. And I
just feel like there was justthis moment where it just it
(07:13:40):
clicked that spoke to my spiritand it was like Gabrielle, I
love the Lord will forsympathize with us. For God God
on my level is God always doesright. I mean, Jesus got on my
level.
I was like, I know. It's hard tolive. It's hard to live. Living
is is a choice. It is not easy.
It takes a whole lot of courage,a whole lot of strength that
(07:14:02):
often we do not have, you do nothave. But if you will live
today, I promise you, your life,your living will glorify Me. And
when I tell you, I wish therewere words to describe that
moment, but all I know is Godspoke those words to me and I
had I had courage to get out ofthe bed. I didn't have shame in
(07:14:23):
it. There wasn't shame, andoverwhelmed keeping me in the
bed. There was courage to propelme out of the bed. Because in
that moment, all of a sudden, Irealized, oh, yeah, there was
this reality for me in thatmoment of like, oh my gosh, like
I yeah, I'm gonna live and mylife because I'm connected to
Christ like it. It, it willglorify the Lord. Right, like,
(07:14:47):
my life is inextricablyinextricably Yeah, there we go
linked to Christ, likeColossians three, versus three
says, it says, I've died, I'vedied, you've died. And the life
that I live today is now hiddenwithin Christ's life that I'm
living in the flesh in this bodyof mines is now hidden in
(07:15:09):
Christ. And when Christ who isnow our life appears like so
will, will you, you and I bothbe revealed, or you've got
Galatians 220, where it says,you no longer live, but Christ
lives in you. And the life younow live in the flesh. You live
in faith in the power of thesun. I walk in communion with
(07:15:29):
Christ, I walk with him, that'sthe one who's living right now.
I'm being molded in his imagebeing renewed, and redeemed, I'm
walking in connection. And as aresult, I just get to choose to
I just get to live not notconnected to the things I do but
(07:15:51):
connected to the one I'm with.
So I moved from glory beingconnected to performance to
glory, being connected to newlife. And that wasn't that
wasn't a heavy yoke that renewedmy strength that renewed my
courage. I could live for that.
I could live I was I was like,God i i see these flowers and
(07:16:12):
they make me want to worship andI'm going
God I am they're not anxious.
They don't I just really likethis. No, you know, you just
feel spoke you like they're notthey're not wrestling enough
fighting, like I'm fighting God,show me how to live like that.
And we don't have great modelsfor that, right? We're all
trying to get this. We're alltrying to get this right doing
the best we can. So theinvitation from crisis to
(07:16:34):
consider the lilies. You'relike, I don't have a model for
rest. No one taught me how to dothat. Everyone around me is
burned out and tired andstruggling and striving and John
to put on a good face and makeit seem like they're good, but
they need they are not Christgives us the invitation to
consider to fix league gaze uponthe birds, the flowers, the
lilies. So what's theapplication here? Oh, and also
(07:16:57):
this is really cool. This, I'mgonna go off on a tangent, like
I kind of do typically.
I was torn because this, thisinvitation from Christ appears
in two different parts of the inin Matthew as well as Luke. And
I wasn't sure which chapter Iwould read from. And when I
turned to Matthew, literallynext to this chapter was a note
(07:17:19):
that I guess someone wrote meand put in my Bible can't make
this up. And literally in thenote, it says you are planted,
rooted. For the display of hissplendor, you can't make this
up. That's what I read rightbefore recording this, you are
planted rooted in the display ofhis splendor, there are so many
varieties of flowers, there areso many flowers out there like I
(07:17:42):
literally it was fields andfields of flowers all around
this building. There were avariety and there were repeats.
And the lawyer was speaking tome about the value of the
variety and the vowed value ofthe repeats because you're gonna
be like, God, there's like 16Roses right here. Right, but
nobody had nobody says thatabout flowers or like this 16
Roses like surely oh, theseroses, got some away. Right?
(07:18:04):
Like, it sounds dumb. It soundssilly. But but we do that about
ourselves. We're like, God,there's like, you know, every
everybody's teaching in this wayor like God, there's other
people that are doing a muchbetter job like trying to solve
problems around housing in mycity. Do I need to also try and
engage with that? There's otherpeople who are better equipped
(07:18:27):
at it.
And gods like, yes. Add to thesymphony. That's something that
God was showing me. Like thisfield we see us that's part of
the harm in our overindividualized.
So society, here in the West, isthat that anxiety about who you
(07:18:47):
are and your worth and yourvalue, like, you would think it
would be the opposite, but thatactually can
Um, I believe more when we'rehyper individualistic, because
we're like, oh, I'm this flowerright here. And I'm this rose,
and there's like 18 other roomof them. But when we think about
the collective, when we thinkabout stepping back, and like
that experience you have whenyou're gazing at a field of
(07:19:10):
roses, a field of thesewildflowers, flowers, these this
variety, you recognize, oh, mygosh,
this, all of it is adding tothis symphony, this this, this
gorgeous display a splendor thatwould miss something. If this
was taken away, there is not asense of too much, right?
(07:19:32):
There's not like, oh, there'stoo much. That's oversaturated
over there. Let me not let menot get in on that. No, we don't
look at we don't say that whenwe look at a field of lilies. In
fact, like I invite you, it's,it's beautiful to step in
closer. And actually, you'llrealize, few flowers actually
look exactly the same. If youreally lean in and look at them,
(07:19:53):
they don't actually look thesame exact same, they actually
aren't completely shaped thesame. But we only see that by
coming in close and consideringso here's the application, I
want to invite you to threethings. The first one is go to a
place you enjoy. preferably onethat's that's outside, where you
can observe creation things thatwe need that right. We need
(07:20:14):
creation to model for us whatrest looks like. And then as
you're outside, wherever youare, I want you to ask the Holy
Spirit to guide your focus. Asyou walk for five minutes, I
want you to notice what grabbedyour attention and consider what
God might be saying might betrying to tell you like if there
was something that grabbed yourattention, remain there for a
(07:20:35):
while, as long as you can reallytake a walk to survey the area
and do that for five minutes.
But then go back and be like andnotice what grabbed my attention
sit and linger there with that.
Maybe eventually asked thequestion guy What are you
wanting meat? What do you whatdo you want and to speak through
this? And then respond. That'skind of open to interpretation.
(07:20:55):
I mean by that join the currentchorus Beloved's express your
appreciation with your life,what do you want to do as a
result of what you justwitnessed? Do you want to
worship, play some worshipmusic? Do you want to call up a
friend? And encourage them? Godo that? Sure. Do you want to
now make a rhythm of that inyour life? Amazing. You want to
(07:21:18):
open up the word and study dothat? Is there some idea that
drops in your spirit? Amazing,but just respond those lilies,
that's what they were doing.
They were responding tons ofthem different varieties, but
every single one of them wasneeded. It was a chorus, not
just one flower that inspired meto praise and to live, but it
was all of them. And it was alsosingled out ones I will stop at
(07:21:41):
different ones. So live, live,beloved, live, and your life
will be to the glory of God.
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