A highlight of my recent trip was meeting my sister's grandkids...days of grace.
A highlight of my recent trip was meeting my sister’s grandkids…days of grace.

I like things that move fast, I enjoy seeing progress, growth excites me.

However, today I’m thankful for things that move slow, mostly the progress of Motor Neurone Disease (or commonly called Lou Gehrig’s Disease/ALS) in my body.

I know I can’t walk the same, my hands are weaker and I need more help getting around, but in light of where I was expected to be by now, this disease is moving slowly by MND / ALS standards.

I am living in days of grace – and aren’t we all?

Some would say my slow progress is a miracle. I believe that. Others would say it’s due to the practical things I have done and choices I have made. I believe that too. Daily, I pray, I meditate, I rest. Daily, I concentrate on minimising stress, a known accelerant of MND / ALS, and follow a strict vitamin regime.

You see, the medical world has no traditional way to fight MND / ALS at this time. There is no surgery, no treatment that I can have to remove the disease or kill it. In fact, what looks like surrender to the disease is actually the most effective way of fighting the disease: rest, peace and hope!

It’s strange to fight with rest, to agitate with peace, to move forward with hope – but as is the case with life, you have to do what you can do and leave the rest to God.

I wonder if in your life, in what you face right now and the season you are in, if you’ve been trying to fight with force, energy and speed when instead, you should be resting.

There’s a lot to be said for rest. For one, it’s how God designed us to operate, with work and rest, rhythmically, infused by Sabbaths. Not only that, but He also leads us to rest if we follow Him there. So, how do you rest? Do you take a walk by the beach, work out, hang out with family, worship, read?

When you rest, you put yourself in a position to receive the peace of God. It’s a peace that supersedes your experience and sustains you through your day. Ultimately, that you would put your hope unswervingly in God, the one who can do more than we could ever hope, dream or imagine.

And that’s exactly what I am doing. I’m resting in the truth that today is a gift and I’m thankful for it. I’m living with peace in the face of death and disability. I have a hope that what I see as a future dream, a cure for anyone who is ever diagnosed with MND / ALS, will one day become a present day reality.

I pray rest, peace and hope for you today too.

Phil