I was out on a Friday walk ... cleared to be in valleys but not on my local hills, so walking around my parks for a leg stretch, and went up a path I haven't been up for years, and a big hydrangea bloom juxtaposed with a bench got my attention...
I could just read the top, and so stopped to check what was written.
"In loving memory of CAROLE BOYD. 4-23-54 - 5-28-97. Sit and rest."
She was just 43. I am just 44, and just turned 44 in January. She must have been greatly loved, and the suggestion is that she might have come to do the same things I enjoy coming to do in the park, although until age 43, I was not much for sitting.
But then I also heard "sit and rest," just in advance of being 43, and that is why I have lived to be 44.
On December 24, 2023, I was dreaming, and I heard a choir singing Matthew 11:28 over me: "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I WILL GIVE YOU REST!" I mean, that choir was belting out the promise at the end of that command in a way that I will have to be a much better choral composer than I am today to ever pen ... I remember that I woke up and remembered it was the Lord Jesus Christ Who said that, and because I was a Christian, that got my attention.
I did not know that already, I had anemia that was just sliding ... not yet at a critical level, but I was overdue for a checkup because of dealing with life and needing to get a new doctor ... so there was no way for me to know things were going wrong because I was, to the day I had to get the blood transfusion this January, not having the symptoms I was supposed to have!
But I kept getting that reminder ... slow down ... rest ... it kept coming up on YouTube too in various ways. My earthly father also kept saying "Make sure you get your rest" ... but my Heavenly Father knew what was going on.
But it takes faith to rest ... everyone is not of the same faith, but in the Anglo-Saxon centered world, working and being productive all the time is almost what it takes to survive. One has to have different connections and different skills -- sometimes in reverse order to get the connections -- in order to be able to prioritize rest.
My life is full -- two aging parents, senior housing job, community connects with elders and children -- so prioritizing rest would require an act of faith.
I mentioned that I am a Christian. I happen to know that it is also written:
Why do you call Me "Lord, Lord" and do not do the things that I say?
This is what He reminded me that He said:
Come unto Me, all ye that are labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
It was time to put up or shut up. The echoes were coming from everywhere. I had to just go by faith and prioritize rest in 2024, when I was 43. Now, in retrospect I was going to sit and rest either way ... early enough for it to be my choice, sick enough for it not to be my choice, or, by God's choice, in eternity. It was just a question of timing.
Now, I am on a reduced activity schedule, and there is a part of me that balks at that ... I never had the severe symptoms I should have had, so my brain has not completely registered that I was sick and am now trying to get well. Even down to two days before finding out I needed a whole blood transfusion -- while still 43 -- I was still able to do loops on my local hills, so a loop around the Fuchsia Dell at the park does not really seem like enough.
But the life of Carole Boyd was not in vain for all the reasons that caused her loved ones to remember her with a bench, and not in vain by me. In the midst of this loop around the Fuchsia Dell, I did what we were told, in gratitude for the 44th year I never had to survive to see ... and even though it is Monday, and even though the world says we need to be busy today, if you hear the echo in your soul of what Carole Boyd left as a legacy and what I was told outright, then even if it is just for a few minutes today, and tomorrow, and then onward ... it may save your life to do what you hear ...
"Sit and Rest."
