I chose a word for 2020 and just remembered about it. It was regenerate. It was a one word prayer, really, for God to regrow the parts of me my encounters with sin had lopped off. Things like my trust of God, my trust in my body and my hope for a good future.
And look at the first half of 2020! Isolated by social distancing, quieted by less events to be at, and uprooted by a new scenario our society has adjusted for. In some ways, it’s been like a cocoon, and I wonder if that’s where my regeneration is happening.
I’ve had a way of looking at life that said, “Change is hard and slow,” and indeed, sometimes it is. Other times, like in March, change is fast and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. It’s inevitable. A caterpillar doesn’t strain in the cocoon and yet, she emerges completely transformed. If she wanted to opt out and stop the process, she couldn’t. This is happening. This is what’s next. So I’m opening to my mind that sometimes, change is quick and easy. Does that feel like cheating to you? It used to to me too, but now I see it’s just life. Sometimes it’s hard, sometimes it’s easy.
So what do we make of it when Jesus says His yoke is easy? I used to feel like it couldn’t be true. But Jesus said it, so…that’s big. Can we take His word for it that the work He’s doing with us is flowing through us and regenerating us and our effort is not the star of this show?
Our effort is not the star of this show.
I think that’s what He’s saying and I’ve noticed my preconception that everything will be hard and slow has caused me to make some things harder for myself. What are you making harder than it has to be? What if Jesus was nearby, waiting to do it for you?
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Matthew 11:30
