Learning to Lean

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Here’s a message I just sent to a young friend I am corresponding with through a mentoring website I belong to that is sponsored by Power to Change.  It’s a message we all need to remind ourselves of right now, when it seems like the world is spinning out of control and we are uneasy with the uncertainty of it all. We want to do something to fix the mess around us but we don’t know where to begin, it all seems so impossible.

 

So I said to my young friend,

 

I feel sympathy for you in your striving.  I have always been a striver too--and have struggled with perfectionism. Now I am older and wiser and more at peace with just living from day-to-day.  The “need” to “do,” especially for God’s eternal Kingdom, still pushes at me, but more and more I realize that all I have to do is relax into His sovereignty and not worry so much.

 

A few years back I ran into a meme that changed my life.  It says:

 

All we need to do, as Christians, is to be

RESTFULLY AVAILABLE and INSTANTLY OBEDIENT.

 

I love that.  Especially the restful part.  The more I am able to relax into Jesus the more freedom I see Him having to do His Kingdom work through me.  Now I pretty much go through life just flying by the seat of my pants, knowing that it's His wings I am flying on!  And it's a wonderfully peaceful and joyful way to live. 

 

I think it's easier to come to this way of living when you're older.  The pressure to perform (my own pressure on myself!) has sort of passed away and I can just live from day to day, trying to walk in the pace of the Spirit instead of sprinting off like there is some kind of finish line I have to cross before the end of my days.

 

A friend once sent me a card with a picture on the front of a little girl and a big rock.  She has her hands up on the side of the rock and it looks like she's holding it up to keep it from falling over, but you realize, when you look at it, how ridiculous that is, because the rock is way bigger than she is and it is obviously holding her up. 

 

That kind of symbolizes my approach to following Jesus for most of my life.  In the past I have been very busy helping Him make sure everyone is doing what they should do and things in this world are going His way.  Now, in my old age, I am just happy to lean on the rock instead of trying to help God keep it in place!

 

But it takes time for us to learn to lean.  And God is not in a hurry.  He grows our faith, even as we struggle to help Him do His work!  He is leading us to a good place--a place of rest and a simple enjoyment of walking day-by-day with Him.  I have begun to experience this joy more and more, but I am sure it will grow deeper and sweeter as He continues to lead me away from the struggle to total trust in His ultimate sovereignty.

 

We, who want to follow Jesus, are all on this journey. And it’s a good one. It's a journey to complete trust in a loving, powerful and sovereign God.

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