Last Musing Until August
The LORD is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name. —Psalm 23:1-3 NLT
It was a hard season for our family, that time when my husband and I thought it was a great idea for him to go for a PhD and then write a dissertation while simultaneously teaching at the United States Military Academy. It’s only by God’s grace that we made it through with our family and marriage still intact. Ray had no rest. Only grinding, endless work that never stopped, never let up, and was never enough.
I was solely in charge of our two preschoolers and the home and everything else and felt very much alone. When Ray was home, the house had to be kept very quiet and still so he could focus. The girls and I learned to speak quietly and leave him to his work, living on another floor of the house so we did not disturb his never-finished labors. And, one day, we were just plain tired of being good and quiet. All three of us.
So, I whispered to our girls, “Come with me!” Behind our home was lawn and then a hill. We walked up that hill, and I said to the girls, “This is hereby declared to be our Screaming Hill. When we need to make noise, we can come up here and shout and dance and yell out loud. Are you ready?”
They looked at me blankly. Was Mummy actually going to let them be … loud and rowdy? Why yes, she was. And boy oh boy did we hoot and holler! I am almost laughing as I type remembering our crazy antics on that hill. So. Much. Fun. After that, whenever we were tired of quiet, one of the three of us would whisper, “Screaming Hill” and off we’d run! Our neighbors surely heard us, but to their everlasting credit, they left us be.
Have you ever been amazed when someone in authority “let” you do something you thought was forbidden? Isn’t it kind of stunning and fun? Maybe it was a jeans day at work or school. Perhaps it was a parent suggesting ice cream sundaes for dinner. Whatever-it-was, being allowed the unexpected probably made you smile.
The New Living Translation of Psalm 23:2 made me smile the other day. David is bragging on his Shepherd—the living God. And David tells us in verse two that God “lets him rest.” Yes, He does. We humans sometimes put ourselves on endless treadmills, valiantly trying every day to measure up, like my poor Ray in that season working on more than was humanly possible.
He even sets aside one day a week, and He’s pretty firm that we are not to work, our servants (should we have any) are not to work, and even our animals get the day off. In the New Testament, Jesus affirms this affinity God has for letting us rest. He tells us “… Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28b NLT). It’s a theme.
You see, God made us, and He knows that when we stop and rest well, we are then able to go and work well. God renews our strength through the gift of rest. He lets us rest.
That is exactly what we are preparing to do here at Sweet Selah Ministries. Just like I named that hill behind our house the Screaming Hill, I have a name for our unique time of resting in this ministry. We call it, July Rest Month. We take it quite seriously. No Musings will be published in July. No podcasts. No Tuesday Talks. No graphics on social media. There will be a whole lot of nothing. We’ll be back in August with more content. And because we take July off? We’ll be renewed in strength, eager to be back serving you once more. But for now … we are off to the beach, to our hammocks, to long, leisurely showers and naps and such. We wish you a good July and hope you, too, can find some times of rest this month. Your Shepherd lets you rest. He’s quite insistent about it. Isn’t He wonderful?
Dear Lord God, how we thank You for the myriad of ways You tell us, beseech us, and command us to just stop and rest. Bless us this July, Father, with quiet moments of wonder and lovely, lazy days of hanging out with family and friends … and You, our good, good Shepherd. In Jesus’ Name, who bids us come to Him to rest, Amen.
You are loved,
Sharon
Sweet Selah Ministries
Vision
To inspire a movement away from the belief that “busy is better”
and toward the truth of God’s Word that stillness and knowing
Him matter most—and will be reflected in more effective work and service
Mission
To offer biblical resources and retreats that help women pause (Selah)
and love God more deeply as they know Him more intimately (Sweet)
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