I’ve been really busy the last few days getting ready for a big event Sacred Space that is happening in Kansas City the second week of July. I’ve been letting the stuff of life, everything from the TO DO LIST that is still WAY TOO LONG, to the mess in my house, to the news…steal my peace and my joy. I haven’t been taking my own advice to stop and rest, and take care of my soul. So I am posting some of the verses and quotes that I usually give out at my Sabbath Retreats and I am inviting all of us to take some time today, or this week to actually pause and consider them.
Read through the quotes and verses and pick one or two that resonate with you. Maybe even print them out or write them down and carry them with you throughout your day. Be aware of all the things that are blocking your ability to receive the gift of rest and peace today. Give those things to Jesus to carry for you. Breathe, Pause. Embrace the gift of small slice of silence. Call a friend and invite them to coffee and share the verse or quote that is speaking to you. You might need a friend to help you take the time to even stop and pause in your busyness. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Give yourself the gift of rest this weekend!
“God sometimes speaks to us most intimately when He catches us, as it were, off our guard.” – C.S.Lewis (1898 –1963) Oxford Professor, theologian and author of TheChronicles of Narnia and other works
“God is the friend of silence. See how nature—trees, flowers, grass—grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence…We need silence to be able to touch souls.” Mother Teresa (1910 –1997) founder of the Missionaries of Charity Calcutta, India
This is the reason we have no ease of heart or soul,
For we are seeking our rest in trivial things, which cannot
Satisfy, and not seeking to know God, almighty, all-wise, all good.
He is true rest. Julian of Norwich (England 1342 – c. 1416)
“Each of us needs an opportunity to be alone,
and silent.
To find space in the day or in the week,
just to reflect
and to listen to the voice of God that speaks deep with us.
Our search for God is only our response
to his search for us.
He knocks on the door,
but for many people their lives are too preoccupied for
them to be able to hear. “
Cardinal Basil Hume (Benedictine monk, England 1923-1999)
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD,
Jeremiah 29:11-14a
Psalm 46:10-11 (NIV)
“Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Psalm 46:10-11 (The Message)
Attention, all! See the marvels of God!
He plants flowers and trees all over the earth,
Bans war from pole to pole,
breaks all the weapons across his knee.
“Step out of the traffic! Take a long,
loving look at me, your High God,
above politics, above everything.”
11 Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.
Psalm 46: 10-11 (New American Standard Version)
“Cease striving and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
MATTHEW 11 (THE MESSAGE)
28-30″Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? 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.”
Uncrowd my heart, O God,
Until silence speaks
In your still, small voice;
Turn me from the hearing of words, and the making of words,
And the confusion of much speaking,
To listening
To waiting
To stillness and
To Silence. In the name of Jesus AMEN
( based on a Prayer by Thomas Merton)
MATTHEW 11 (NIV)
28″Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
A cup must be empty before it can be filled. If it is already full, it can’t be filled again except by emptying it out. In order to fill anything, there must be a hollowed-out space. This is especially true of God’s word. In order to receive it, we must be hollowed out. We must be emptied of the false self and its endless demands. When Christ came, there was no room in the inn. It was full. The inn is a symbol of the heart. God’s word, Christ, can take root only in a hollow.
—from A Voice Over The Water: An Invitation To Pray by William Breault, SJ
With the emptying comes a promise—the heart will be filled.
– Excerpted from An Ignatian Book of Days by Jim Manney
CLOSING PRAYER:
Lord Jesus, help me to live today with an open heart, an open cup!
Open my heart to receive your love and help my cup to overflow.
Help me to be thankful for all the blessings that you have given me….
Even the things I take for granted like a warm bed, breakfast, a hot shower or a cold one on a hot day.
Protect each of us from ourselves…our fatigue, our frustration, our hunger for our own way, our bad attitudes and lack of faith…forgive us Jesus and fix our cups..
Fill our cups today Lord Jesus and let them overflow with your love and faithfulness!
Fill our cups today with the ability to stop and rest and remember that rest is a gift.
Help us to remember that when we serve the “least of these”…the poor, the sick, the old, the hungry, the children, those on the margins,
WE ARE SERVING YOU!
In Your Name, AMEN!
©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com
1 comment
YEAH! -a random “gnu” gospel tract