“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.”
This passage of scripture is probably quite familiar to many of you out there. It was chosen for the March edition of First Fruits, Novo's monthly prayer rhythm. First Fruits is a deliberate pause on the first Monday of every month, when we as an organization commit to set aside time to pray. It is a space for us to listen, grow, and saturate in the presence of God so that we may continue to pursue deeper intimacy with him.
During First Fruits Monday in March, one Novo staff led a virtual live prayer "room" over a video call. He invited us to creatively engage with this passage from Matthew through drawing.
An interesting question was posed during the session: what does your soul at rest look like? I ended up drawing a cup, positioned upright, with water being poured into it. A cup positioned to receive, to eventually overflow. But when I turned my drawing on its side, the whole image and feel changed entirely. It was a cup unable to receive, spilling water.
It's hard to give out of an empty cup.
The invitation from Jesus to come to him and find rest seems counter-cultural sometimes. Often, the world around us champions going, doing, producing, and being busy—packed schedules and successfully met objectives equal value, and rest is what happens only when you're depleted. In light of this, what does Jesus's invitation mean?
I loved this bit of insight from my colleague Joshua, after he engaged with this passage:
"I sense Jesus inviting us into a posture of receptive energy and impact—this is akin to a solar panel producing energy through receiving sunlight because of its placement and posture, rather than the kind of energy production that requires labor-intensive excavation and mined fuel being burned."
What about for you: how would you describe your soul at rest?
Perhaps you can relate to one of these images, or there's another image that comes to mind. How do you feel you need to respond to Jesus's invitation to come to him so that he can give you rest?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cat Caya is part of the Ethne collective. She serves as the director of Pathways, a two-year cross-cultural program designed to identify, equip, and empower the next generation of leaders. Additionally, she is part of Novo's Mobilization team and coaches others on discovering their calling. She and her husband Jim live in Southern California.