Hard, But Not Heavy: Finding True Rest in Jesus

Somehow I blinked and June and July disappeared.

I realized recently that it has been two whole months since I sent one of these Lampstand Letters. Where did June and July go?! Anyone else feel me on this?!

For me, they were full.

Really full.

Over the past couple of months, with the help of my amazing team, we launched 16 Creators Clubs. There have been supplies to order, projects to prep, spaces to coordinate, emails to send, people to lead, problems to solve, and so many little details behind the scenes.

And mixed into all of that has been normal life. Motherhood. Marriage. Family. Ministry. Laundry. Meals. The everyday things that don't stop just because your calendar gets full.

It has been such a sweet season. I am incredibly grateful for it.

But it has also been busy.

And somewhere in the middle of all that busyness, I've been thinking a lot about rest.

If you've been around here for any amount of time, you know how much I talk about slowing down. Putting the phone away. Making something with your hands. Creating instead of consuming.

I believe deeply in those things.

I believe creativity can help us slow down. I believe God has given us the gift of creating, and that making something with our hands can quiet some of the noise around us.

But creativity cannot give my soul lasting rest.

A slower schedule can't do it either.

A quiet morning can't.

A vacation can't.

A perfectly organized home can't.

Even an empty calendar can't.

Those things can be restful gifts—but they cannot be the source of my rest.

Jesus is.

Jesus says:

“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

I keep coming back to those words:

Come to me.

Not, Come get your life together.

Not, Come once you've cleared your calendar.

Not even, Come find a hobby that makes you feel better.

Come to Me.

And I think that's important because Jesus never promises that following Him will make our lives easy.

Actually, He tells us the opposite.

In Matthew 7, Jesus says the way is narrow. Paul describes the Christian life this way:

“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”— 2 Corinthians 4:8–9

The way of following Christ can be hard.

And yet Jesus says His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

I've been sitting in that tension.

Christianity is hard, but it isn't heavy.

Not because our circumstances are always light.

Not because obedience is always easy.

Not because following Jesus means nothing painful will happen to us.

His burden is light because of WHO He is.

Jesus tells us:

“I am gentle and humble in heart.”

The One carrying the yoke beside us is gentle.

The One leading us down the narrow road is good.

The One asking us to follow Him has already done what we could never do for ourselves.

And with Christ, we have nothing to prove and no one to impress.

Jesus already lived the righteous life we could never live. He already paid for the sin we could never pay for. Our standing before God isn't dependent on how productive we were today, how well we parented, how successful our business became, how much we served, how clean our house is, or how many things we crossed off our list.

Jesus already said:

It is finished.

And I wonder if sometimes we're asking Jesus to help us carry our yoke instead of actually taking His.

Jesus, help me accomplish all of this.

Jesus, help me keep everyone happy.

Jesus, help me prove that I can handle this.

Jesus, help me carry the life I've decided I need to carry.

When His invitation is different:

Come to Me. Take My yoke. Learn from Me.

Maybe the answer to our exhaustion isn't simply figuring out how to fit more rest into our schedules.

Maybe the deeper question is:

Have I actually come to Jesus?

Because I think we are living in a lack-of-rest epidemic.

We're tired.

We're distracted.

We're overstimulated.

We're constantly consuming.

We're trying to keep up with our homes and our kids and our work and our friendships and our commitments and the lives of hundreds of people we follow online.

And yes, sometimes we genuinely need to put the phone down.

Sometimes we need to say no.

Sometimes we need to go outside, make something, be creative for the sake of just being creative, read a book, take a nap, cancel something, or leave some white space on the calendar.

Those are good things.

But we can do every one of them and still have a restless soul.

Because everyone wants rest.

But we will never successfully find the deepest kind of rest apart from Jesus.

Which brings me to a question I've been asking myself lately:

Who do I really believe who Jesus says he is?

And maybe that's a question for you, too.

Who do you think Jesus is?

Because what you think about when you think about God (Christ) is one of the most important things about you. (A.W. Tozer)

It changes the way you respond when life gets hard.

It changes the way you see yourself.

It changes what you believe you have to prove.

It changes how tightly you hold your plans.

It changes where you run when you're tired.

It changes where you look for rest.

Maybe you've known about Jesus for your entire life.

Maybe you've asked Him to help carry the weight of your life.

But have you experienced Him?

Have you come to Him?

Have you taken His yoke?

Are you learning from Him?

Have you experienced the kind of rest that doesn't necessarily mean your circumstances got easier—but that your soul is secure in the middle of them?

I don't want to build a life where I need creativity to save me from my busyness.

I want creativity to be a gift I enjoy from a place of rest already found in Christ.

I want to slow down, not because slowness is my "savior," but because it gives me space to notice, appreciate and be with the One who is.

I want to create, not because making things can fill what is empty in me, but because I have already been filled by my Creator.

I want to live and work and mother and serve from the freedom of knowing that I have nothing left to prove.

The narrow road of following Christ may still be hard.

There will still be busy months.

There will still be responsibilities, disappointments, suffering, obedience, sacrifice—and apparently months where I completely forget to send a Lampstand Letter. ;)

But friend, hard does not have to mean heavy.

Because we aren't carrying it alone.

So if you're tired today, Jesus' invitation isn't another thing for your to-do list.

It's simply this:

Come to Me.

Experience Christ.

Learn from Him.

Know His heart.

And there, find rest for your soul.

Some questions to sit with this week:

• Where have I been looking for rest besides Jesus?

• What am I currently carrying that Jesus never asked me to carry?

• Am I trying to prove something—to God, to others, or to myself?

• Who do I actually believe Jesus is?

• What do I think about when I think about God?

• Do I know about Jesus, or am I actively coming to Him and learning from Him?

• What would it look like to live this week from Christ's rest instead of working desperately toward it?

This week, don't just make time to rest. Make time to be with the One who gives it.

** Inspired by what God is teaching me through his word in reading 2 Corinthians currently, the fact that my memory verse with my daughter has been Matt 11:28, we have this verse taped on the cabinet and have been singing the Slugs and Bugs song, I have prayed a "give her rest" prayer over many friends this month AND a sermon at church covered this topic this week.....soooo God is so cool in revealing to me what I need to learn! And what a gift it is to share a little nugget of what God is teaching me with you all.