Sunset Work

The rest that works is a lot like "sunset work."

There was a little work involved for both of the above pictures that were taken last week. For the first, I thought about where the sun was going to be, took a book, sat in a hammock and waited for sunset (not much work). For the second, we went as a family to the beach along with hundreds of others and waited for the sunset (that particular evening involved a fair amount of effort - that was well worth it!). 

Preparing for a sunset usually involves a little work and a lot of unknowns. Will the sunset be beautiful? Will it be a dud? Will clouds get in the way or add to the beauty? What attitude helps make the experience worth the wait no matter what?

"Be still and know that I am God" involves similar things. We don't know how the Living God will show up even when we do the work of coming to rest, opening our hearts with a sense of wonder, observing and waiting. There are practices we can choose to prepare a certain spiritual space like breath work, centering prayer, listening to music, sketching, and etc. but we don't know if we will experience much at any given time. Sometimes, all we experience are the unforced rhythms of grace giving us life in our breath (which is something worthwhile in and of itself). But if we don't do the work of coming to a place of open presence, we can be sure that we probably won't experience much at all - like we usually won't experience much of a sunset if we aren't intentional about being in a position to see it.

Developing a regular practice of opening to the Living God and the Creative Forces of Life is a key part of living the rest that works. Developing some practices that work for you is a lot like developing practices of preparing for a sunset. Part of the process is recognizing what is in our control and what isn't, and choosing to take those potentially helpful steps that are in our control. Cultivating an active sense of wonder and humble openness is essential, but with that, the possibilities are truly endless. The bliss of Divine Love can utterly blow us away.

More power to you in doing the sunset work in your personal form of the rest that works. Thanks for journeying together!

Blessings,
Scott

(P.S. The next class on the rest that works starts next week on April 5th. Here's a link to the details: http://www.therestthatworks.com/events-calendar.html
​I hope you can come!)