Rest and Rejoicing

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
– Matthew 11:29

It has – once again – been a blistering hot summer.  Not terribly shocking news I know. But we’re setting the stage here.

Driving to work this morning, a number of homeowners were taking advantage of the relative cool of the morning to water their lawns. One particular front lawn had a rotating sprinkler system going – you know the kind where the sprinkler head moves in a circle. On one side – waiting – was a big ole yellow Lab. Clearly in the path of the oncoming stream but just waiting.

Now if you search for pictures of dogs and sprinklers, say, to illustrate your blog post because you didn’t actually take a picture of what you saw, you’ll generally come up with things like this:

or maybe this:

What I saw was a bit more like this:

Waiting for the sprinkler to come on around. Resting. A light yoke. An easy burden.

But the lightness of the yoke and ease of the burden don’t come from a shallowness of required effort. They come from the grace of the Savior. From space for our souls to find rest.

There is time for pursuit; there is time for effort. Time to leap and grapple and grab and be exuberant. But there is also time for waiting and finding soul rest. Time to wait for the blessing and the refreshment in taking on His yoke and learning from the One who is gentle and humble in heart. The Savior Who is where we find rest for our souls.

Wait for it…