I recently watched a webinar about Embracing Rest with Brian Williams from Circe Institute about “Finding and Embracing Rest.” In the seasons we are currently living in, I believe it is important to find and embrace true rest. As families and as parents, we are in exhausting days. Negotiating through the implications of a pandemic and living in a culture that is becoming more secular is exhausting.
Having peace and rest is important as we seek to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
Here are some facts that Brian Williams highlighted:
1. Embrace that we are imperfect.
2. Embrace the size of our calling.
We are imperfect and we will be imperfect parents. We have great examples of faithful heroes in the Bible. However, we can also learn from their failures and mistakes. From Moses, Jonah, Adam/Eve, Joshua, Gideon, David, Solomon, Paul, Peter to the church founders to our leaders today-we are imperfect.
These are the facts. We will fall short. We will make mistakes. When we do not embrace this truth, we will drift to be perfectionists. Expecting perfection in ourselves and in our children will lead to exhaustion. We will become discontent because we will miss the real issue which is the disappointment in our expectations. This does not mean we should not take shortcomings and the mistakes of our ourselves and/or our children seriously. What it does mean is that we need to understand them and then extend grace to ourselves and our children.
How do we do this? Be faithful to the calling God has called us to. Constantly ask, pray, and plead: Lord, help me to be faithful in this moment and in this day.
Remember that the Lord has led us to this place and this time. As parents, we are called to cultivate wisdom and virtue. We are called to train our children to love the things God loves and hate the things God hates. This is an incredibly challenging calling. It is difficult because it is a massive task. We are imperfect individuals called to nurture souls of people made into the image of God. We are called to cultivate wisdom and virtue that can only come from the Lord. We are called to a task that is bigger than us. Yet, at the same time, the Lord knows our weaknesses as well as all of our responsibilities.
He is not calling us to be perfect. He is calling us to be faithful.
Lord, Thank you for the opportunity to work towards this great task. Help us to be faithful as we seek to honor You.
And, may we all strive for peace and rest as we seek to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
