Take a look at your calendar for the next week, for the next two weeks: Do you have any friendship time scheduled in? Any appointments that include sitting and talking to a friend? Enjoying a cup of coffee or a meal together? If you do, you are being obedient and maybe didn’t even know it!
Living in community is not a new idea for me, I’ve thought about it a lot and discussed it at length with my friends. It must be that I need to keep preaching it to myself, because I’m still struggling with it and the topic keeps coming up.
When I look at my calendar, it’s so easy for me to be overwhelmed and to see how I don’t have time to go out for coffee or have lunch with a friend. Our schedules are jammed: family commitments, work schedules, church and one million other things that we have to do. (This blog post isn’t going to be about whether or not we’re over-committed, this is going to focus on making room for rest and reflection inside of our schedules.)
“Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy” is one of the Ten Commandments. God modeled rest for us in creation. He knew that it would be good for us because I’m sure He knew that we would get so caught up in striving, achieving and doing that we would forget to rest. The benefits are not only physical, they are also emotional and relational. Paired with reflection, rest can help us understand the truth of who God is. The remembrances and holidays God required of the Jews were to remind them of what God had done for them in the past. Celebrating God‘s saving works and their impact reminded Israel of what they have been through and kept their focus on God.
It can be very easy to forget how God has brought you through trials when you’re busy running to the next thing.
I find it is so much more meaningful to reflect on the work God is doing in my life when I do so in a conversation with a friend. Often, my friends will help me see things that I missed or point out ways God is using the circumstances of my life to draw me closer to Him. The other day I was talking to a friend about a difficult circumstance I am working through and suddenly realized that one of my longtime prayers was being answered by my experience with the difficulty. I don’t know that I would’ve come to that conclusion without the benefit of conversation. Talking out loud about the things that are going on and hearing a different perspective about them helps me remember where I came from, what I’ve learned, and what God has done in the past instead of merely running headlong from one thing to the next.
In Matthew 18:20, Jesus says, “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” It certainly makes sense that He would reveal Himself more clearly to us when we are in Christian community. When Christ is the centerpiece, I always leave those tables feeling l uplifted, lighter and filled with hope. God loves us well through one another. That means I am being blessed at the same time someone else is if we choose to follow this direction. Grab your calendar, contact a friend and make a date for rest and reflection!
“Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” 1 John 4:11-12
ABOUT THE BLOGGER
Sarah Flowers lives in idyllic Chadds Ford, where she is steeped in beauty and connection to the land and its history. She loves coffee and flowers and getting to know Jesus. A lifelong learner, she seeks to follow God’s plan to bring hope to His children. Sarah is a self-declared serial optimist and melodiphile; there’s always a path to the sunny side and a soundtrack for the journey! She is a mom and wife and a grateful alumna of Northwood University. Her former iterations include automotive professional and shoe diva. Sarah is one of the co-hosts of the podcast Trustworthy and is “most likely to ride bikes in the woods!”