The topic of abiding comes up a lot amongst women, especially in the summer. We are big fans of rest and slowing down our rhythms. It’s important to remember where we get our strength and peace and inspiration. The God who gives it loves nothing more than to share it with us while we’re curled up at His feet or sitting on His lap like little kids. Abiding is crucial, essential to the Christian faith. My own best friend created a product for the very concept.
I think we love it, but we’re bad at it. I think we fight the idea of abiding, in the sense that things get a little too quiet and still for our comfort. If we don’t keep the plates spinning, our world may actually fall apart. Because we’ve grown up in a world that doesn’t take margin seriously, we’re not quite sure how to build it into our lives. It feels scary and boring. Make no mistake, though, abiding is not boring. In fact, nothing about the Christian life should ever feel stagnant. Every fiber of faith is active.
It started out with a Jesus who came into the world and walked among men and touched people with his hands and died on a cross and rose from the dead. It continued when he called us to go out into the world and make disciples, followers, of every nation. There was a lot of walking involved. And even more so, there was a lot of dreaming involved. People had literally never heard of the ideas about which Jesus spoke. What a stretching and growing time for those folks, to get their worlds turned upside and choose to trust a Savior, the Deity they’d always heard about as children.
And even to this day, that is exactly what abiding feels like. It’s a stretching and growing time. It’s letting Jesus turn our worlds upside down while we hang out in his presence. It’s choosing to trust a Savior who asks us to get a little uncomfortable sometimes. And we catapult out of summer and into the busy season of routines and schedules and noise, let’s not forget that abiding is what gives us the strength and peace and inspiration to do all of those things well. The season of rest may be over… but we’re just getting started.
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