A Rhythm of Rest

Focus Statement

Friends, this season you are being called to

cultivate a rhythm of rest and growth,

nurturing your soul’s garden through life’s changing seasons.

Point of Relation

In my youth,

eager to cultivate life,

I once planted peppermint in a friend’s garden.

We tilled the earth, scattered seeds, and stepped back,

anticipating the fruits of our labor.

Little did we know,

we’d set in motion a green invasion.

The mint, unchecked and uncontained,

spread like wildfire. It overran flower beds, choked out other plants,

and even dared to venture across the lawn.

My friend’s parents were less than thrilled with our overzealous gardening.

In our haste to see growth,

we’d forgotten a crucial step: preparation.

We didn’t consider the need for boundaries,

for balance.

Just as our runaway mint disrupted the garden’s harmony,

so too can unchecked activity overwhelm the delicate ecosystem of our lives.

This misadventure taught me the importance of intentional growth.

Like tending a garden, cultivating a balanced life requires thoughtful preparation,

ongoing care, and sometimes, gentle pruning.

It’s about creating space for growth while respecting the need for rest and renewal.

As we awaken to new seasons in our lives,

let’s remember the lesson of the mint.

May we approach growth with wisdom,

nurturing balance in the garden of our souls.

Things to Consider

Rest isn’t just absence of activity. It’s preparation for new growth.

God wove rhythms into creation.

Our bodies need both rest and activity,

yet we often ignore this balance.

True rest involves drawing near to God, creating space to listen.

Even Jesus withdrew to quiet places.

If He needed rest,

how much more do we?

Consider:

What season are you in?

Are you allowing for both rest and growth?

What Scripture Says

As our garden stirs from winter’s slumber,

Ecclesiastes whispers of awakening.

“There is a time for everything,” it says,

like the first tentative sprouts pushing through thawing soil.

Birth and death, planting and uprooting -

each has its moment in the cycle of seasons.

This isn’t a call to frantically prepare garden beds,

but an invitation to observe the gradual quickening of life.

The Teacher reminds us that joy and sorrow,

gain and loss,

are like the alternating frosts and thaws of early spring -

each playing its part in nature’s slow revival.

As green tips emerge from bare branches, a question unfurls:

How do we nurture this delicate reawakening?

The Psalmist offers a seed of wisdom in Psalm 90:12:

“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

Here lies the key - not in rushing growth, but in valuing each day’s subtle changes.

To number our days is to notice the lengthening sunlight,

the softening earth.

It’s an act of patient attention,

recognizing that each moment of early spring holds promise.

This numbering doesn’t lead to anxious bud-watching,

but to a heart attuned to the rhythms of renewal.

In both passages,

we glimpse a God who orchestrates the seasons yet invites our participation in the garden’s awakening.

A God who sets new growth in motion

but teaches us to move in harmony with spring’s gentle stirrings.

Here is the balance of divine timing and human tending,

played out in the gradual greening of our days.

What This Means for You

Friends, let me ask you these questions:

As your life stirs from winter’s rest,

how will you greet this new season?

What dormant dreams are beginning to stir?

What talents are ready to unfurl?

Consider your daily rhythms.

Are they rigid or flexible?

Friends, now’s the time to create space for growth alongside rest.

Early spring is about balance.

Seek small, sustainable changes.

Set aside moments for reflection

or rediscover a neglected hobby.

As you number your days,

let each be a seed of potential.

How will you cultivate a rhythm honoring

both productivity and renewal?

Move in harmony with the gentle stirrings of new life

within and around you.

What This Means for Us

As a church,

we’re called to be a garden awakening to spring’s promise.

How can we nurture this delicate balance of rest and renewal in our community?

Let’s challenge the culture of constant busyness.

Instead, let’s cultivate rhythms that honor both activity and rest.

Can we create spaces for quiet reflection amidst our busy programs?

In this season of gradual growth,

how might we support each other’s emerging gifts?

Perhaps it’s time to prune some activities to make room for new life…

Or, in our case, it might be time to till some new earth to plant more seeds.

Either way, together, let’s learn to move in step with God’s seasons.

In doing so, we become a community that not only grows, but also rests in God’s timing.

Amen? Amen.

Written by Rev. Todd R. Lattig with the assistance of Perplexity AI, based on a series developed by GNJUMC’s Breakthrough: https://breakthroughseries.org/.