Reflections: On Rest ("The Pulley")

After being gone on business last week, and being home sick with my family this week, my body is telling me "what you really need is some rest." But the harder I try to obtain it, the more it seems to allude me, leading me to wonder whether I have mis-placed my focus and attention.

George Herbert (1593-1633) takes aim at this tension in his poem "The Pulley." The last stanza says...

                 Yet let him keep the rest,
But keep them with repining restlessness:
Let him be rich and weary, that at least,
If goodness lead him not, yet weariness
                 May toss him to my breast.

For the full text click here.

CONCLUSION:
If restlessness in life means that I am tossed to his breast, then I say "bring it on." After two weeks of being solace-starved I am ever more aware of my need for God and the blessedness of being in right relationship with Him. In my weakness I still long for the symptoms of this virus to go away, but I much more long to live in awareness of God's presence and to be part of His redemptive plans. What a great God we serve!