Do you ever
get going so fast you don’t even stop to check if even doing it right? I find I go so fast sometimes that when I type a quick message to someone on e-mail or Facebook, and I don’t
bother to check my typing, and I can get into big trouble.
Not too long
ago I was reading a friend’s post on Facebook about going through a difficult
time with her job situation. I decided to quickly post some encouraging words
to her before I dashed off to make supper. I typed something like, “I’m praying
for you to find a great job and don’t worry because it is God’s job to make
your path straight. Your job is to just trust him.” I posted it in the comments
section of her wall and ran off to start cooking. I never stopped to read my
comment back to make sure there were no errors.
Later that
evening, my sister, Robbie and I were sitting in the living room. I was playing
with something on my iPad and she was looking at Facebook on her laptop.
Suddenly she burst into uncontrollable laughter.
“What in the
world are you laughing at?” I asked.
Robbie tried
to answer, but she couldn’t stop laughing long enough.
“You’re driving
me crazy,! I yelled. “What is so funny?”
Finally Robbie
pulled it together long enough to try to explain her outburst.
“Don’t you
ever read what you type?” she asked.
“What do you
mean? What did I type?”
“You left a
comment on Kim’s wall today, right?”
“Yes,” I
answered. “She’s having a hard time with her job right now and I told her to
just trust Him. So what’s so funny about that?”
“Come and look
at what you typed,” said Robbie, trying to control her laughter.
I leaned over
to look at Robbie’s laptop, reading the comment to myself. I couldn’t believe
my eyes. Instead of typing “Just trust Him.” I typed, “Just trust Jim.”
We both
screamed with laughter for about a half hour or so. It was hilarious. But it
got even worse.
“Read Kim’s
comment back to you,” said Robbie.
Kim had
answered my comment with, “Polly, who is Jim and why should I trust Him? Does
he have a job for me?”
After reading
Kim’s comment I just fell on the floor laughing. It was like something you
would see in a sitcom. It took us a long time to regain our composure.
“I’d better
explain my comment,” I said. I quickly left another comment for Kim explaining
what I really meant to say.
“No problem,”
Kim wrote back. “You made me laugh out loud and I needed a good laugh.”
Sometimes we
get moving and grooving just a tad too fast in life. We’re rushing here and
there and never taking the time to really slow down to pay attention to what
we’re doing and how well we’re doing it. We’re always tired and worn out from
our busy lives as well. What's the solution?
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion?
Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to
take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the
unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.
Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG)
There’s
the answer. We need to learn “the unforced rhythms of grace; to live freely and
lightly.” We need to learn to slow down and rest in Him. Today that seems like
the opposite of what the world tells us to do. The world is constantly telling
us to grab all the gusto in life and to add more and more things to do to be
the perfect wife, parent or woman. Soon we are moving too fast for words and we’re
too tired to even care. There’s nothing fulfilling in that kind of life.
Tire?
Worn out? Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. Stop striving. Just trust Jim, I
mean, Him.
