Dear one,
Once again within this space, I return to a recurring theme: REST—which has surfaced great frequency throughout my living of life. Of course I fully recognize the irony of my present thinking: Mary and I have just returned from a two-week get-away, in which we intentionally sought to rest, and did in fact receive needed rest. Nonetheless …
As you might well know: the English word “rest” has either a Germanic origin, indicating a distance after which one “rests”; or a Latin root, which suggests “standing back,” presumably at which moment one surveys recent experiences or events. Likewise, the Greek word for “rest,” ἀναπαύω, does in fact mean “to rest” or “to give rest”; but of interest to me is that this word consists of two Greek words: ἀνα and παύω, the former meaning “up” or “again,” and the latter “to stop or cease.” In other words, ἀναπαύω can imply “to stop again” or even our colloquial, “to rest up,” before undertaking some strenuous activity or weighty commitment.
Now, lest you’ve gotten lost in my morphology weeds, I am convinced that we Americans, of whom I’m a quiet example, struggle to rest, even when we intentionally seek rest. Thus, during our two-week rest, I intentionally chose four books to read—none of them light reading—and thereby failed to stop doing what I normally do. Admittedly, three of them were novels, but they were novels, which compelled me to think and feel deeply. Of course, there is nothing wrong with thinking and feeling deeply, but such feeling-thoughts were not restful. In truth, they were disturbing: I had to “work” with and through those thoughts and feelings. Others of us, I know, seek rest by golf or biking or hiking or … but then we seek to do as much of these activities as time and money will afford, scheduling these “rest activities” as we do most every other facet of our lives.
How often I have turned to these words, how often I have recited them, I do not know, but hopefully someday I will fully acknowledge the Source of all rest:
“Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden,” Jesus said, “and I will give you rest (ἀναπαύω as a verb). Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest (ἀναπαύω as a noun) for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29).
As spring becomes summer, and as un-American as it might be, my we receive His rest.
Hopefully,
Stan