Today, the Word on Fire Blog features Heather King's reflection on Jesus' words, "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest." What does this "rest" look like? Heather explains...
The other day I printed out the manuscript (AGAIN) of Stripped: Cancer, Culture, Conscience, and the Cloud of Unknowing, or whatever I'm going to call the book over which I've been toiling, on and off, for ten years about my bout with illness, the medical system, and death.
At last! I thought. I will read it straight through and it will be PERFECT! Of course there'll be a few minor grammatical mistakes but I'll fix those right up and send this damn thing off, FINALLY, to my agent!
By the first paragraph I was moaning No! I need to change that back again!, and Chapter Two was simply a complete mess. Right after that, I read Chapter Three. And right after that, my back began aching really, really, bad, like someone had just strapped a big load of cinder blocks to it.
The very next day (last Thursday) I opened to the daily liturgy and read:
"Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light"...[Matthew 11:28-30]...