Being Overwhelmed and resting

I know those two words don't go well together. "Overwhelmed" and "Resting". But I'm coming to realize that life in this world is nothing more than a challenge to balance the two successfully. It's been a super busy season for me over the past two months. There have been times where I have been running around from event to event or meeting to meeting and there is no break. It seems some days like I need more than the 24 hours that God has given us in each day to make sure everything on my list got done. Most of the time, everything does not get done. There have been moments of fear because the last thing I want to do is let anyone or anything slip through the cracks. But in all of it there has also been tremendous joy in the work that God has blessed me with and the people He has surrounded me with.

So the other day I was just thinking...how can we balance the reality of us getting overwhelmed with all that is pulling at us in life with the reality that God gives us rest? I'm not sure there are many quick and easy answers to this question, but here is where God has been leading me with it all. There is a difference between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world. In the kingdom of this world we are pressed on all sides. There is always another task to do, another person to meet with, or another errand to run. This will always be so. The enemy loves to keep us busy...because as long as we are running around like crazy with deadlines and appointments and whatever else, we cannot spend time hearing from and focusing on God. The Kingdom of God has a very different agenda attached to it. In Psalm 46:10 it says, "Be still and know that I am God." Many of us have heard this passage before in reference to taking a bit of a sabbath and resting in the knowledge that God is Lord and has everything in control. We know that God speaks in the silence and quietness of rest. However, the rest of that verse hit me when I read it. It says "I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth." This brings a bit more power to the theme of God being God. And it brings a bit more focus to the purpose of our days. When I think about my day to day, I ask myself the question of how much of it is focused on the main thing? The main thing is that God is exalted and glorified in the earth. What I'm finding is that the days where I am getting overwhelmed are the days when my focus is more on me than on Him. The days when I find rest are the days when my focus is more on Him than on me.
Remember, He WILL be exalted...regardless of what I do. But His invitation for me is to find rest in the simple quietness and stillness of His presence. And then, I have the strength to go out and face the kingdom of this world with a more focused mindset. In that mindset, I'm able to recognize that it's God working and not me...and if I ask Him, He will direct my steps to the tasks that are most necessary for the day...keeping me from getting overwhelmed by the pace of this world.