We were created by God to live with a healthy pace in life. However, far too many of us are living without margin in every area of our lives. We fill our calendars. We can’t say no. We live with a harmful drive to achieve. We have lost hope that it will slow down anytime soon. Jesus offers us such a gift in saying that he has come to give us rest. This rest is found in a grace that does not demand that we jump through all the hoops or get everything right. The rest that Jesus offers is an unmerited favor for anyone who comes to Him. This grace is best experienced in community. We can learn from Jesus as we learn from one another. When we do Church with one another, we lift one another up, we protect one another’s boundaries, and we carry one another’s burdens.

Think about this idea, I don’t have to live each day so exhausted by simply trying to keep up. I can allow others to help me. I am a human being and not a human doing. I am loved by God and that is enough. Practice saying “no” to those things that are harmful to your spiritual life and receive the grace of God while investing in relationships to make you healthy.

At WCC we are embarking on a journey of HOPE in this time of unparalleled hopelessness. During October we will examine how Jesus can take our anxious, bombarded lives and fill them with HOPE. I pray that each one of us will not only take this month to refocus our lives of the cross, but to invite everyone we know to experience the HOPE that we have!