Dissolve Our Striving
"Would you dissolve our striving into Your perfect peace?”
Matthew 11:28 (NIV)
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Striving is woven into the fabric of human experience. From our first breaths, we push, reach, and grasp. This innate drive propels us forward, fuels progress, and can lead to remarkable achievements. Yet, unchecked, it can also leave us exhausted, anxious, and caught in an endless cycle of "never enough."
The invitation to release our striving and surrender to God's peace is not a call to apathy or inaction. Rather, it's an invitation to a different way of being in the world - a gentle nudging to loosen our white-knuckled grip on control and open our hands to receive what God offers.
Imagine a river. When we're striving, we're like swimmers fighting against the current, expending enormous energy just to stay in place. Surrender is like turning to float on our backs, allowing the river to carry us. We're still on a journey, but now we move with a sense of ease, in harmony with a force greater than ourselves.
Living in a culture that often equates surrender with weakness, choosing to release our striving can feel vulnerable, even frightening. Yet, paradoxically, in this surrender, we often find a strength we never knew we had - the strength that comes from being fully aligned with God's purposes for our lives. Advent provides a unique context for this surrender, offering a sacred space in time where the eternal breaks into the temporal. This season of waiting and anticipation mirrors our spiritual journey, inviting us to pause and reflect on the profound mystery of the Incarnation.
As we remember the coming of Christ - God's ultimate act of stepping into our striving world - we're confronted with a radical reimagining of power and peace. The Almighty chose to enter human history not as a conquering king, but as a vulnerable infant. This divine paradox challenges our notions of strength and surrender, reminding us that true power often lies in vulnerability and that the path to peace may look different than we expect.
In Christ's coming, we see God's response to our human striving. Rather than demanding we ascend to Him, He descends to us. This act of divine humility reminds us that peace is not something we achieve through our efforts, but something we receive as a gift. It's a grace freely given, not a reward earned through perfect performance or spiritual acrobatics.
Surrendering to this peace is a daily choice, a moment-by-moment decision to trust God rather than our own understanding. There will be times when we find ourselves slipping back into patterns of striving and control. In these moments, we're invited to gently release our grip once again and return to a posture of surrender. Our days should be defined by a continual re-centering, a returning again and again to the truth that we are held in love, that our worth is not dependent on our achievements, and that God's grace is sufficient for us.
Take a moment to reread today’s Scripture passage and then spend some time reflecting on the following question:
Matthew 11:28 (NIV)
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
What might change in your life if you lived from a place of surrender to God's peace rather than constant striving?