Recently, I went for a short hike to take in some of the fall outdoors. It was a beautiful day, and I went to a little park that’s outside the city. There’s solitude and a few ponds and several trails. And there’s a 400-foot-high hill you can climb, with a big ol’ craggly rock on top. So I climbed the hill to the top and spend some quiet time there.
So there I was, beautiful day. Bright and warm sun. Gentle breeze. Silence. I thought, I feel like laying down and doing nothing and just resting. I thought, that is not something I have the opportunity to do very often. Then I thought, I’m going to do it.
But there was one problem. I was on top of a big craggly rock. Ugh.
Now when you lay on a rock, the first thing you want to get comfortable is your head. Of course, there’s a big difference between a down-feathered pillow and a limestone. So I put my noggin back, and after only a little movement, I found a perfect spot for it. I checked my back – it seemed a great fit. Then, there was the feet and legs. They have to hang just right or they’ll fall asleep and you won’t. So I did a little shuffling and, bingo, I had a perfect spot for them. I felt like I was in bed:
It was a perfect fit.
I laid there for about an hour. Slept, relaxed, rested. On the big craggly rock.
Now if someone walked up to me the day before and said to me, “Jerome, I see you are tired. You know, I think I have just the thing for you. I know of a mountain you can climb where there’s a big craggly rock. You can lie on it and get all the rest you need. What do you say?”, I would probably be thinking, you know, he’s got some problems.
From a distance, life with God does not look comfortable. We see a big craggly rock. We know it’s firm and sound, but we see hardness and shapes that are not the norm we’re used to. How can that be comfortable? How can I find my rest and security there? We look at Christian discipleship, or we look at the priesthood, or at consecrated religious life as a brother and sister. We see the hardness and we see the shapes that are not the norm we are used to. And we can say, “It’s a hard life”, and want to get away from it.
We can miss the whole gift: it’s a perfect fit.
“On God rests my deliverance and my honor; my mighty rock, my refuge is God.” (Ps 62:7)
Don’t be afraid of life with God, of entrusting all that you are and all that you have to Him. Don’t be afraid of how it looks from the outside. Yes, there’s hardness and things that are not the norm of the world. But try it, I promise you’ll be surprised.
You’ll find it’s a perfect fit.