One of the hardest things for most of us to do is rest. We work extra time to prove ourselves worthy of our paycheck. We sacrifice sleep to earn that elusive A+. We jump from one church event to the next. We run to and fro hoping to keep our homes, our families, communities and overall lives under control. Control, after all, is what we are often hoping to stay in, trusting that through control life will be everything we dream it to be. When things get out of control, and they inevitably do, we become restless, anxious and afraid. This is why slowing down and resting can be so scary. They feel like holding life too loosely, relinquishing control and inviting catastrophe. Yet, poet and farmer Wendell Berry reminds us of the lesson that God teaches us through nature: life grows best when it is left to grace.
Whatever is foreseen in joy
must be lived out from day to day.
Vision held open in the darkness
By our ten thousand days of work.
Harvest will fill the barn; for that
The hand must ache, the face must sweat.
And yet no leaf or grain is filled
By works of ours; the field is tilled
And left to grace. That we may reap.
Great work is done while we’re asleep.
When we work well, a Sabbath mood
Rests on our day, and finds it good.
Oh, how my heartache and exhaustion I would avoid if I remembered that “great work is done” while I sleep. I can prepare the ground and plant the seeds, but no matter how hard I stare at the ground, I cannot make the seeds grow. Similarly, I can do my best at home or at work, but I cannot make these thrive long term. In his letter to the Colossians, Paul wrote the following: “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:16-17) If I believe this, then I have to believe that before I try my best to “hold together” all things, He does. Simply said, as a Christian I am invited to believe that before I get out of bed and start working, my Creator is already at work. My job then, is not to desperately figure out day how to keep the world afloat, but rather to prayerfully recognize where God is at work and to partner with Him. Again, always with the recognition that I do not hold things together. He does. This, by the way, is why we keep the Sabbath. Not because it is a rule we keep in order to stay in control of our salvation, but an invitation we accept because we believe our lives can be “left to grace”. The grace of the Good Sower who works before and after we do, but even Him rests and delights himself in his good work: you and me.
While the seeds of our labor sleep on the ground, we have two options: fret and worry restlessly, or trust in the generous grace of the Creator who promises us He will not fail to bring forth spring, and with it, the fruits of our labor.
by Pastor Joel Navarro, Piedmont Park Seventh-day Adventist
