Rest

Back in its TV days, I don’t recall watching one full episode of the nighttime soap, Dallas. The only soap that interested me was located just to the right of the faucet. Somewhere along the way, I did pick up one of J.R. Ewing’s more memorable sociopathic lines, “Once you give up integrity, the rest is a piece of cake.” That must depend on what you define as “the rest.”

A while back, someone asked me how my ministry was going. Almost without thinking, my knee-jerk answer was, “Once I give up my ego, the rest is a piece of cake.” My inquirer smiled knowingly then asked, “Isn’t that the way it is with all ‘the rest,’ too?”

She was right. Ministry, marriage, work, friendship, golf, you name it and all the rest, it all comes easier, once you get your ego out of the way. The only thing I ever tend to stumble over on the way to nearly anything meaningful or joyful is my own need to be in control, or to win, or to just be right all of the time. Once I give that up, the rest, the easier breathing, the deeper sleep, the more peaceful life, is a piece of cake.

Just before he lost his head over losing his heart to the Messiah’s call, John the Baptist spoke of a joy that comes only as a gift from heaven, once we give up our ego. “He must increase, I must decrease,” the martyr said.

He was right, the peace that so eludes us this side of heaven, the rest, the deep-breathing, soul soothing, heart-stilling, peace of God, is just the other side of letting go of the big ego. Once you give that up, the rest, the real rest, is a piece of cake, and it even tastes better at that.