"My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." Can you hear those words from God coming to you this day as they did to Moses over three millennia ago? Take some time right now, and let that promise soak in and encourage your heart. Trust Emmanuel (God with us) to be present here and now in all the upheavals of our lives to bring us the divine peace that is beyond our human understanding. Rest in that peace.

Jesus picks up that thread in Matthew 11:28: "Come to me all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." People all across this country and around the world are weary today suffering under the cloud of the coronavirus pandemic. The stress of economic instability, of the threat of eviction and homelessness, the fear of infection and long-lasting effects if not death, of the loss of loved ones, of the loneliness of separation, of the unknown timeline of what is to come, of the self-centeredness of those who seem uncaring of the plight of others can overwhelm us. We long for the peace that the Beloved promises.

Making time to be with the Holy One day by day, to rest in the Divine Presence, enables us to accept that, no matter the circumstances, "All shall be well," as Julian of Norwich put it. The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans (8:28) claims the same truth: "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose." (I personally believe that all God's children throughout the world, the entire family of God through all time, are called according to God's purpose.) If we offer ourselves wholeheartedly to the Beloved, we can trust God to give us the rest we need.