Gift Number Four

Humor. Gratitude. Beauty. We can add them at any time to our lives, and they add so much to our lives. Each of these takes us out of the frame of mind we spend much of our day in - struggling to get things done, working against the clock, herding cats.

Today - want to talk about the powerful gift that rest is. I’m not just talking about the sort of rest we get when we’re asleep, but also the kind of restful state of mind we have when we’re relaxed, calm, peaceful, quieted, or even in a “flow state” - of the sort we get into when we’re reading, drawing, playing music, playing a game, or doing deep meaningful work in some field of expertise.

Graham Cooke (who I like to listen to preach - especially his sermon Why Wounded and Betrayed Believers Are So Useful to God) says “Rest is a weapon”. Graham’s referring to rest as a spiritual weapon - defensively primarily. Who hasn’t found themselves in a trying situation that was made much worse by the fact that they were so stressed out, tired and run down.

There are surely times when we cannot avoid this - when a loved one falls ill, when raising young children, when moving, launching a business (or dealing with a season of corporate troubles) - just to name a few but surely not all. Sometimes despite our best efforts we find ourselves facing several or even all of these all at once. I can surely relate to this. Over a decade ago work was crazy, the economy was crazy and my mom was dying. I ran every which way until I was completely worn down. Then it got ugly. A couple years ago - I had several family members struggling with health, work stress, my dog died - and I was completely run down again - but the second time I’d learned to stop and rest as soon as I felt spread so thin, ask friends for help, and I contacted everyone counting on me to get something done for more time. Then I poured myself into staying in that mode until I felt able to pick up and go again. The difference between those two seasons was so profound. The first season caused many years worth long-term problems and hurdles that were really challenging to overcome. The second was challenging - but nowhere nearly as problematic. In fact - the second season led to growth, more strength, and some really, really welcome and valuable lessons. The second season was also over in months - not years.

You are worth being rested, rejuvenated, energized, reinvigorated. You and your family, your friends, your work and even your pets - all get the best of you when you give yourself not just the sleep you need - but the mental rest you must have in order to grow, and strengthen your spiritual gifts, your unique way of blessing the faith communities you’re a part of. God surely can grow us closest towards Himself when we’re rested. Pretty hard to be enthused when we’re dragging ourselves through life. We’d never raise our children that way. God doesn’t want to raise us that way either.

So - today’s gift - is this sleepy post (stretches and yawns big), with loads of slow pokey words. It’s okay to go ahead - and lay your tablet or phone (or whatever you’re reading this on) down - and close your eyes for a moment. You know - to ponder. (another big yawn). Maybe just a quick nap. It is the Lord’s day after all. Sabbath rest and all that. If you think about it - what bigger profession can we make of faith than to … than to …

Rest.

Gift Number Three

Humor and Gratitude are pretty high-quality food for our souls, but there’s more. Sometimes we want more than humor - and need more than that and that’s cool.

So today gift celebrates how amazing all forms of beauty are - whether it’s a breathtaking vista, or an amazingly performed piece of music by a musician, or a beautiful work of art, a lovely evening with friends, a heartening playtime with kids, or a soulfully gorgeous time in prayer with God. There are so many forms beauty can take - and they all hit our souls a little differently. Regardless - I wish you all of them. And I wish you a sharp memory of each of them so you can pull them back up from your memory banks to the forefront of your mind and bask in their warmth.

It’s so easy to find our lives bombarded with things that are just not beautiful - news, social media, uncertainties, … but beauty - and the power of beauty to remind us that there is so much more of value going on right now, right this very moment than just the things that unsettle us or which we find unfulfilling. I like to set my wallpapers, lock-screens, and desktops to scenes of vibrant beauty and end the day by soaking in the incredible gift that God gave us when he gave us just a tiny bit of His capacity to not just enjoy beauty - but create it. If you know me, then you know I like to play around with making beauty as much as I like to gaze upon it and soak it up. One of the things I love about where I live is all the varied sorts of natural beauty here.

And then there’s this sort of beauty …

Your Second Gift

Not gonna lie - I’ve talked to quite a few of you over the course of the year - and a lot of you got more beat up than I’d have liked. A lot of us have spent a lot of time over the last too many months getting bummed over the news, frustrated over social media, heaped on by work and family pressures. We’re carrying some heavy burdens these days.

Thanksgiving was just a week ago today - but Gratitude deserves far more than an annual holiday. Gratitude is the gift that God gave us - that gives and gives. Cultivating a spirit of gratitude not only helps us appreciate the good things in our lives but can shift our whole perspective on what God’s doing in our lives. A regular practice of allowing ourselves to see all God’s blessings in our lives - and really sitting in that gratitude, exploring it, and celebrating it - can soothe our tired and weary souls. Deep gratitude for every single good thing - puts all the imperfections in our lives (even the irksome ones) in their place.

So - I dare you - I DOUBLE DOG dare you - to not only go on a little hunt today for some more funny stuff to laugh at (there are LOADS) of sources of chuckle-worthy content AND take a few moments to think about all that’s God’s done for you and given you that is so gratitude worthy. Gratitude and humor together are like a gummy vitamin for your soul - at the very least. More than that when we embrace gratitude - it’s easier to laugh at whatever hilarity we come across. It’s also easier to relax and to build resilience. But don’t bother too much thinking about those downstream benefits to gratitude - just go ahead and enjoy all the gratitude you can step into right in this moment. The more gratitude we take time to feel - the more grateful we feel and the more it starts to feel like there’s not so much so out of place in our lives. Even Jesus paused in the midst of His short public ministry to give thanks in public and in private with just His disciples.

Who are you grateful for? What priceless gifts - such as family, opportunity, health, talents, and such has God given you that make your life what it is?