Sunday, January 18, 2009

Rest

After my brief sojourn in Hong Kong, I headed down to Chiang Mai, Thailand for two weeks of graduate classes. As I talked to people that Sunday, on the eve of classes, a common theme was one of tiredness and exhaustion. We were coming into the week of class taxed by the work of the previous semester. The class was Sp. Formation and the primary topic appropriately was rest. I was a little concerned going into the class that it would be focused on learning many disciplines that would add another burden of what must be done to my shoulders. However, the message that was constantly spoken over us was rest, create margins, say no, do less, be more. Our Western culture's lie that greater productivity and more activities means a better servant was exposed repeatedly as a recipe for disaster. We have a compulsion to fill every moment of our days (excusing our twenty to thirty allotted minutes in the Word each morning), or at least to explain to others that we're using every moment responsibly. It was wonderful to have this reminder as we prepare to go to conference, where comparison to the effectiveness of others can lead to the compulsion to do more. In order to actually practice what he was telling us this week, our professor gave us an incredibly light load during the week. He encouraged us to retreat and simply rest with the Father. This lighter load allowed our class to minister to one another in beautiful ways. Lunches suddenly became four hour affairs where we took time to listen to one another's stories. We were able to experience how much easier it is to follow the Counselor's direction when we're not rushed to move onto the next task of the day. I've left the class with some ideas for how personally to create buffers and margins this next semester, and Wu and I have some ideas for the team as well. Having margins of rest is something I've known is important for awhile, but it was so encouraging to have a respected leader teach the necessity of it to us.

4 comments:

Pru's Corner said...

may rest pour through you! (and through your sinuses). love you dear friend. thanks for the post. I have some tough choices coming up about saying "no" also, so this is a good reminder.

Mink said...

Woo-hoo! I'm glad they took that tack with you this year. Way to embrace balance and availability and being present to our Father and other people and concrete reality! May this be miraculously imprinted in you over the course of the week and shape how you approach the semester ahead, listening to our Guide for the times to rest and the times to labor.

Christi and Abbey said...

awesome!

Pru's Corner said...

Happy Birthday!