A couple years ago I’m belly deep in water on a beach in Florida with my wife and kids...the sun is warm, the water’s cool and beautifully clear…every few minutes one of us let’s out a giggle from the fish that are playfully nibbling at our feet. And then I feel something on the ocean floor- when I’m fully convinced its not a shark or other weird sea creature... I go down for it.
A few seconds later I pop up holding the perfect sand dollar that I proudly raise in the air- which set’s off a family competition of who could find the biggest and best one. From a distance we probably looked like a human version of whack-a-mole (without the whacking of course) as our heads were repeatedly going in and out of the water.
The exploring led us to find, what we called Sand Dollar City- a seemingly endless and breathtaking expanse of sand dollars that went on as far as the eye could see on the ocean floor.
But because they were deeper, and because they took a lot more breath and energy to reach, I was the only one who could retrieve them. And so, as my wife and kids headed to shore, I headed back toward my newly found treasures.
It’s a little sad and embarrassing to admit, but over the course of our vacation I probably spent a full day out there in the water alone… and for what? To this day I can’t tell you.
What’s out there that you can’t stop going back for again and again and again?
Maybe what started out as a healthy discovery…a good job, a good time, a good thing, has now become something to you it was never meant to be.
Somewhere along the way, the endless opportunities, choices and life’s pleasures lure us away, take our best energies, and leave us out of breath and exhausted… and our souls are left dehydrated and malnourished in the aftermath.
What’s worse is when we’re reeling from the negative affects…when we’re looking for relief and rest, we turn back to the very things that got us into the mess.
And so we go back out to our familiar spot, we dive down and reach for...a drink, a vacation, a run, a good book, more work. But it’s only treating the symptoms; It’s not healing our sickness.
Maybe it’s time to stop reaching and chasing. Maybe we’re just homesick. Maybe you just need to come home.
Matthew 11:28-30
Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
What have you been relentlessly diving for? What treasure have you been seeking that’s been in your reach the entire time?
God isn’t just calling us to rest. He’s calling us to rest in him.
Because it’s only in him, that we discover what’s most important. It’s only in him, that we receive the answers, the recognition, the affirmation that we’ve really been hunting for.
How many sand dollars do we need to find before we realize…i’m just trying to treat a symptom.
So wait! Before you dive down again. Before you head back into the crazy and chaotic current of your life…
What if you did something else first. What if you gave God back some of the time and space he loaned to you to see if there was something he might be trying to say to you?
What if you stopped treading for a few minutes and just sank- leaving the voices, the noise, control, the deadlines, to-do lists, pressures and stresses… at the surface.
I believe it’s here…in our descent to the bottom of ourselves, where our heavy garments are exchanged for God’s lighter and more life-appropriate attire, where our tired and weary souls receive the rest they’ve been gasping for.
It’s here and only here where we find what we’ve been searching for all along. It’s Him, and He is Home.
Psalm 46:10
“Be still, and know that I am God!
A few seconds later I pop up holding the perfect sand dollar that I proudly raise in the air- which set’s off a family competition of who could find the biggest and best one. From a distance we probably looked like a human version of whack-a-mole (without the whacking of course) as our heads were repeatedly going in and out of the water.
The exploring led us to find, what we called Sand Dollar City- a seemingly endless and breathtaking expanse of sand dollars that went on as far as the eye could see on the ocean floor.
But because they were deeper, and because they took a lot more breath and energy to reach, I was the only one who could retrieve them. And so, as my wife and kids headed to shore, I headed back toward my newly found treasures.
It’s a little sad and embarrassing to admit, but over the course of our vacation I probably spent a full day out there in the water alone… and for what? To this day I can’t tell you.
What’s out there that you can’t stop going back for again and again and again?
Maybe what started out as a healthy discovery…a good job, a good time, a good thing, has now become something to you it was never meant to be.
Somewhere along the way, the endless opportunities, choices and life’s pleasures lure us away, take our best energies, and leave us out of breath and exhausted… and our souls are left dehydrated and malnourished in the aftermath.
What’s worse is when we’re reeling from the negative affects…when we’re looking for relief and rest, we turn back to the very things that got us into the mess.
And so we go back out to our familiar spot, we dive down and reach for...a drink, a vacation, a run, a good book, more work. But it’s only treating the symptoms; It’s not healing our sickness.
Maybe it’s time to stop reaching and chasing. Maybe we’re just homesick. Maybe you just need to come home.
Matthew 11:28-30
Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
What have you been relentlessly diving for? What treasure have you been seeking that’s been in your reach the entire time?
God isn’t just calling us to rest. He’s calling us to rest in him.
Because it’s only in him, that we discover what’s most important. It’s only in him, that we receive the answers, the recognition, the affirmation that we’ve really been hunting for.
How many sand dollars do we need to find before we realize…i’m just trying to treat a symptom.
So wait! Before you dive down again. Before you head back into the crazy and chaotic current of your life…
What if you did something else first. What if you gave God back some of the time and space he loaned to you to see if there was something he might be trying to say to you?
What if you stopped treading for a few minutes and just sank- leaving the voices, the noise, control, the deadlines, to-do lists, pressures and stresses… at the surface.
I believe it’s here…in our descent to the bottom of ourselves, where our heavy garments are exchanged for God’s lighter and more life-appropriate attire, where our tired and weary souls receive the rest they’ve been gasping for.
It’s here and only here where we find what we’ve been searching for all along. It’s Him, and He is Home.
Psalm 46:10
“Be still, and know that I am God!
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