Learning Along The Way

How Do You RSVP to This Invitation?

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(photo credit: Glenn Carstens Peters via unsplash)

When I discovered this photo a tonic chord resounded in my soul. I saw it and sighed. There is such peace, such calm, a connection with the land, provision & possibility, I knew I needed to make use of it.

I spent the summer meditating and digging into three verses from the gospel of Matthew. This passage is often quoted and for good reason. It holds a beautiful invitation into this With God life:

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Simply the first 3 words of Matthew 11:28-30. And yet there is no simplicity in the RSVP to this invitation.

In an RSVP we either say Yes or we say No.

Yes I will Come to You Jesus. I will come in the morning and hang out with You in silence with my coffee. Yes I will come to You when I drive on the freeway or when I take the kids to school or on my run or as I do dishes, laundry, answer email, wipe noses, change diapers, clean the house, whatever.

OR

No I can’t come to You Jesus. I’m too busy. I’ve got to take care of all the things before I can consider sitting down to read my Bible.

This invitation isn’t the Salvation invitation. This is the How You Live Your Day Invitation.

Theology calls it Sanctification.

How do You RSVP to this invitation?

If you’re anything like me, the answer changes moment by moment. Sometimes Yes Sometimes No I’m off doing my own thing.

I pray that I am more like Jesus today than I was yesterday and that I will become more like Him tomorrow than I am today. But I am easily distracted. In fact, I am convinced that I can distract myself! I don’t need anyone else to do that for me.

I desire to be saying a sincere Yes to this beautiful, simple and yet incredibly challenging invitation.

How do You RSVP to this invitation?

Speaking of invitations, I am taking the #Write31Days challenge again. This year I am writing daily over at Lisa Lewis Coaching. I’d love to have you visit and of course, share your thoughts.

 

Why 10 Isn’t Enough

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This summer I’m engaging with one passage of the gospel of Matthew. Yep. Just one.

For 10 weeks I have purposed to dig deeper into one passage, phrase by phrase.

“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 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. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Context

History

Audience

Original Languages

Cultural References

Cross References

All in effort to unpack what Jesus told His listeners (which includes us).

Sometimes the most familiar is overlooked.  We know but we don’t see.

Like Mall Confusion. You see everything and nothing at the same time. Lots of noise, people, lights, smells and it’s all overwhelming.  Reading through a familiar passage of the Bible can be like Mall Confusion.  All and Nothing at the same time.

Unless you slow. your. pace.

10 weeks. One phrase a week. Working to memorize in a different version than I know, to be able to see it again.

Week 6…”learn from Me…”What does that even look like? Learn from Jesus? Of course the curious among us do this:

google it.

Learn from Jesus. Google has some interesting hits with that one.  The top 3 were very helpful giving me a total of 36 different things I can learn from Jesus right off the bat. If I take one a day starting today it will be 5 weeks from now when I’ve finished just looking at the things I can learn from Jesus.  That doesn’t include the time it will take me to actually learn them. To get each thing into my bones kind of learning.

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That’s why 10 weeks isn’t enough. I’m pretty sure I can spend the rest of my life learning from Jesus.

Oh. Right.

Learning Along the Way.

Want to join me? I’d be happy to share what I’ve been learning. Let me know in the comments. Or message me on Facebook.

Rest for Your Soul

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I shared this photo yesterday with the women of Alameda MOPS. I was privileged to bring them a few words of encouragement for a very busy season; early motherhood.

Preparing to share about Embracing Rest meant I needed to slow down in my own life and make space for spiritual rest and renewal.

Learning to know when to work hard and when to let up and rest is a big part of living in tandem with God.

When Jesus commissioned his 12 disciples to go out and teach, He also went out to teach. Jesus invited all who heard to come to Him;

“Come to Me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

The yoke is meant for close connection and for training. It is also how a stronger helps the weaker to accomplish the task. When oxen were yoked together they were paired by strength; a weaker one was put in the yoke alongside a stronger, more experienced ox.

I like how Eugene Peterson says it in The Message: “Come to Me. Get away with Me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest.  Walk with Me and work with Me–watch how I do it. learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with Me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Jesus knows how physically and spiritually tired we can be. And He offers us a different Way.

If we keep company with Him, we’ll learn to live freely and lightly.

And we will find rest for our souls.

Follow Me…

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