Resting, Secured, Shielded

Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him,
for he shields him all day long,
and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders.
Deuteronomy 33:12*

I've been savoring this verse this week. Over the weekend, we hosted some friends while they packed out their house for a big move. They did the literal heavy lifting (and cleaning, and sorting, and details), all we had to do was watch 5 kids under 5 (with help) and provide 3 square meals a day. I know why they were exhausted, but somehow we were too.

And then this verse.

Like lemonade on a hot summer day.

I think about all the uncertainty of a move and am comforted that in God our friends are secure and shielded. And then I think about how tired we all were by the end of the weekend and that image of resting between his shoulders is so powerful. There are many cultures that tie their babies on their backs up between the shoulders. How safe, how close, how restful.

I also notice that the beloved in this verse does nothing but rest. The Lord provides the security, the Lord does the shielding, the Lord does the loving. I think we fail to take that seriously to our detriment. We're afraid that if we rest in our loving God, something important isn't going to get done. We're not going to be secure or shielded if we don't do something. But this verse says differently.

While you're thinking about that, enjoy this trailer about beauty from unlikely places.

*Moses' blessing to the tribe of Benjamin, read the whole chapter for neat blessings given to the 12 tribes of Israel.

"I'll sleep when I'm dead"

Mountain and Water by
Chen Chun Zhong

My freshman year, I was part of a program that made a t-shirt saying, "We didn't want to sleep anyways." So I was raised in a culture that valorized anything that produces exhaustion--work or play.

It's fitting then, this spring break to think about rest because Jesus offers something very different from our apprehensions about not working and missing out and not having enough.

"I'll sleep when I'm dead."

 “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.” ~Matthew 11:28-30

"Work hard, play hard(er)"

"There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience." ~Heb 4:9-11

"YOLO" (You only live once)

"Be still before the Lord
    and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
    when they carry out their wicked schemes.
Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
    do not fret—it leads only to evil.
For those who are evil will be destroyed,
    but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land."
 ~Psalm 37: 7-9

Too tired to (not) connect

It's been a rough six weeks. We are really tired, we've been really tired. It's Friday and like most Friday's recently we've just barely made it.

And most days around 7:30, 8 o'clock, the kids are in their beds and my husband and I look at each other, and we are totally beat. And a couple nights a week, we'll put in a DVD, snuggle up on the couch, and watch something fun. Yes, we're not eyeball to eyeball talking about deep issues, and yes, we're not even being silly and goofing off over a video game, and yes, it's not a dress up date, but that is us, a few quiet moments, resting together, and that's it. Apart from the general figuring out of how to keep our four lives going, this is how we're connecting.

Spiritually, my first thought is that I am way too tired to connect with Jesus. Not only do I have little time to myself, when I do have physical space, I have very little mental space. What I need is a couch and DVDs with Jesus. A little place to be safely exhausted yet with.

And as I ponder this, I realize that I'm way too tired to not connect with Jesus.

I don't have the how's figured out, but the following words of Jesus have come to mind.

“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.”
~The good news according to Matthew, chpt 11

Dandled on her knee

12 For this is what the LORD says:
"I will extend peace to her [Jerusalem] like a river,
and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream;
you will nurse and be carried on her arm
and dandled on her knees.

13 As a mother comforts her child,
so will I comfort you;
and you will be comforted over Jerusalem."
~Isaiah chapter 66

This is a strikingly maternal passage from the Bible, amazingly tender in a passage and indeed a book with a lot of harsh imagery.

As a researcher before I became a mother, I studied infant attachment and hypothesized that the neurobiology of affiliation could be seen as an "Interactional Instinct." In my head, I knew that the nervous systems of infants and newborns even were tuned not just to biological needs but social needs. Just feeding and cleaning a child without interacting with the child would likely leave him/her like Harlow's monkeys or the tragic Romanian orphans.

Nevertheless, as a new mother, I am shocked at how much my child responds to my attention and care. Typically, when she cries around 6AM, I nurse her assuming she's hungry. This reliably calms her. This week, at 3 months of age, I tried holding her and sitting quietly with her. Amazingly, this also calmed her and we sat together quietly for 10 minutes, and then I nursed her.

As I sat there holding her marveling at how rapidly her nervous system moved from an aroused state to a resting state, I felt I had new perspective on the verses above. When I first encountered this passage, I was the distressed child desperately seeking rest. I longed to be dandled and delighted in. Now as a mother holding her child, I am experiencing tremendous satisfaction and joy from seeing her experience rest. I realize that all those times I was hoping for consolation, God was there longing to provide it, delighting to be able to comfort.