Snowy Rest
“Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” — Matthew 11:28
Jesus’s words are so appealing, aren’t they? Who among us does not feel weary and heavy-laden in some way these days? And Jesus offers us such a simple solution—we just have to come to Him.
His invitation reminds me of the reprieve of a snow day. One moment we’re preparing ourselves to tackle the day ahead, with all of its demanding busyness. And then, suddenly, we are granted a day of rest and play instead.
I can vividly remember the snow day experience from childhood. Repeatedly flicking on the back porch light throughout the night in order to feel the thrill of seeing it illuminate heavily falling snow. The mornings when my dad would come back the hallway to announce that schools had closed and we could stay in bed. Then, despite having felt so tired just moments before, I would suddenly be too excited to go back to sleep. I remember the snowy winter of my 6th grade year, when it seemed like we had nearly constant early dismissals, delays, and canceled school from December to March. An experience that repeated itself, a little less spectacularly, the year that I did my student teaching. Each snow day or delay feeling like a blessing from God, helping me to stay on top of all of the planning and preparation involved in a first year of teaching.
Thank you, God, for snow! And for its power to force us into rest.
But in Matthew 11:28, the rest isn’t being forced, it is being offered. So we have to choose it. “Come to Me, and I will give you rest.”
Jesus wants us to come to Him. Be with Him. Rest with Him. Which honestly seems too good to be true. It’s too simple, which is probably the reason that we struggle so much. Very little is given freely to us in this world, so we tend to disregard Jesus’s words, and instead choose to make our faith about something else entirely. Doing for Him. Serving for Him. Stepping out of our comfort zone for Him.
None of these things are bad, in and of themselves. Jesus wants us to love our neighbor, and He praises the person who offers a cup of cold water to someone in His name. But we just have to be careful—to make sure that all of our doing and serving for Him doesn’t get in the way of choosing what is best—relationship with Him.
