Augustine's Rest Stop

Having trouble sleeping these days? No rest for the weary, as they say. Perhaps it is a timeless pursuit to desire gratifying rest that truly nourishes us so we may faithfully tend our souls. For years, I've been acquainted with Augustine's famous quote from the opening page of his Confessions: "O Lord, You made us for Yourself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You."

A few pages later, Augustine describes the off-ramp to this rest area:

What does ambition seek except honor and glory? But only You, Lord, have a glory forever that can never be lost. What does power of the mighty desire except to be feared? But none has power that can ever be seized and stolen but You. What do the lonely and anxious long for except a love that they cannot lose? But who can give a love that does not fade and die but You?... What does weariness seek except rest? But what sure rest is there apart from You?... Thus the soul commits adultery whenever it turns from You and seeks these things that it cannot find except in You....

He closes this paragraph by asserting that even when we sin we are still "perversely imitating" God, and by that fact alone there is nowhere we can go that God isn't already there.

In our day of senseless culture wars, false reality shows, and moral dilemmas over war, health care reform, and financial market jitters, aren't you glad Augustine's 1500-year-old rest stop still entices us to find rest that restores the soul?

-- Ken