Returning and Rest

So somehow in my first few weeks in clinic I've learned a lot about yoga. Amidst the craziness of learning how to do a good physical exam, practicing my write-ups and presentation, and learning about every disease under the sun, God's blessed me with multiple talks on breathing techniques that we can use for ourselves and talk to patients about. Most of the exercises have focused on breathing. I don't know about you, but I don't really think about my breath a lot. It seems like it would be fairly easy though to sit down and think about my breath: where I feel it in my body, how long it lasts, the pauses between the inspiration and the expiration - none of that seems like particularly challenging stuff. Yet every time I've tried the exercise in one of these talks, I face the same thing: it is impossible for me to keep my mind only on my breath even for 2 minutes straight. I'm off thinking about what I need to do that day, what I'm going to have for lunch, what I need to study later - really anything. Focusing our whole attention on something is a tricky business!

How similar is this to our relationship with God! As much as we want to put our full energy into glorifying Him, it is difficult to do consistently. It takes effort to push out our other desires and surrender our hearts entirely to the Lord on a daily basis. On this flip side, sometimes when we try to do more things to focus on the Lord (get more involved in church, go to more bible studies, read more Christian books), we tune out God's voice speaking to us individually on a daily basis. Focusing our full attention on the Lord is a matter of constantly redirecting ourselves to be still before Him. 

My challenge for today is to apply the truth of this, as we try to focus and refocus our full attention on glorifying the Lord:

In returning and rest is your salvation;

In quietness and trust is your strength. 

~Isaiah 30:15