Nope....Green pastures. Psalm 23 reads, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want, He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me by still waters, He restores my soul." Oh for this to be what we let the Lord do. Because of the neglect of rest, we have created Hell on earth. You may be thinking that is an extreme word, but I chose it intentionally. How many times do we walk by the homeless because we are too busy running to Barnes and Noble to write our next blog on how busy we are? I just did it myself, sitting in Barnes and Noble now writing a blog about how busy we are. When I finish this, I'll go to a meeting planning for the next big thing that every church is doing, then I'll go to a rehearsal with a band and try to be the most relevant like every progressive church band is doing with the help of Mumford & Sons. then I'll wake up to start a day very similar to that, but not before I run into the woman working for Green peace on my way out of Barnes and Noble as she asks me if I want to help her save a whale but I inform her that I cant because I am too busy writing a blog about how busy I am!...Bleh. Disclosure overload.
But seriously, the busyness we have created is not part of bringing Heaven to Earth, but Hell. Some of us in ministry are in a competition to see who can be busiest so people can talk about how busy we are. And in return, we will not feel like a giant waste of cells, and most of the time successfully convince ourselves we are getting things done the right way. Then 15 years down the road we're burnt out, miserable, possibly divorced from neglecting our family, and in our own personal Hell created out of busyness.
I strongly believe that the lord doesn't call us to lead out of busyness, but to LEAD OUT OF REST. Notice that it says He makes a lie down, to take a second, a day, maybe even a week. Then it says He leads us by still waters. This is Him picking us up out of the pasture, out of the place of rest, and walking beside us in life, shifting us to be like the water he set before us- still, so that we can hear the whispers of His guidance. through that walk by the still water, he refines us. He restores our soul.
The best thing you can do to help someone, or your ministry, our your family, is take care of yourself....OH DANG. Did I just say that? how SELFISH. That might taste sour to some, but let me explain. When we take that time to lie in the pasture, to let the Lord bring us rest, he can pick us up and lead us through the chaos of life on the left by keeping us focused on the still water on the right. But....straight up, we don't want to lie in the pasture that would get us to that still water. we will feel un-busy, unproductive. We can't fight the urges of planning for Easter, to have a bigger bunny than last year. We want the Lord to catch up with us, and go along with what we are doing in our timing. so we will do things like pray in the car on our way to work and call that our "quiet time", or whatever other relevant phrase we have come up with to describe the time we spend with Jesus that we coined from one of our "staying relevant" meetings. We want Him to somehow plant that still water beside us in our convenience, as we go, as we run on empty. But here's the thing, we won't find that still water until we take ourselves out of the chaos and in to that pasture, to a place where our eyes will be opened to see where the still water is that the Lord can begin to lead us by.
The other day I lost my keys while visiting my parents house. I couldn't remember where they were. I didn't have time to remember where they were. so of course, my best alternative was to run around in a clown-like fashion, yelling at God to some how teleport my keys to a place I have already looked 100 times but am convinced hasn't been thoroughly checked yet. the closet? the back of the door? the couch? the depths of my V-neck? my shoes? you know you've checked your shoes. Then of course there's the mom who tells you to sit down and think about where they are....and it makes me PISSED. Are you for reals ma?! Sit down and think?! I'm too busy! I gotta be at church!!..sit down and think....are you CRAZY!! HUH Lorrie Busey, are you!? then without fail, she somehow convinced me to sit down, and to backtrack....I rested for a sec...my eyes were opened to something I couldn't see if I didn't stop....I remembered....and I found what I was looking for.
If we're gonna talk about Ma, we gotta bring pops into the mix.
I remember the time when I was young and my dad was on the other side of the monkey bars. He would tell me to breathe, go across, and to not look down, but to keep my eyes focused on HIM. What a beautiful picture this example paints of Psalm 23. when I would breathe before climbing, that was the pasture of rest. I would not look down at the chaos of life below, but kept my eyes focused on my dad, my still water. And because of this, I got across- a display of the restoration of my soul.
Listen. No one wants to hang out with the ornery dude, no one wants to learn from the burnt out minister, no one wants the impatient husband or wife, or the boss that needs a 6 month vacation. So, do what's best for everyone else and take care of yourself. Lie in the pasture, get some rest, then keep your eyes focused on that still water you have been led to on the right, as you feel the fire that the Lord is leading you through on the left.
