I recently had a dream about my deceased father, Frederick Jesse Jones, that gave me mixed feelings. In the dream, he was dressed in an academic professorial robe. This pleased me because my dad never fulfilled his dream of wanting to be a teacher. The disturbance in the dream was the look on his face. My father though outfitted in the garments of his desire, had an overly serious expression to his face, a mixture of seriousness and dread.
We are living in a time that belies such a mixture of accomplishment on the one hand and a sustained low-grade suspicion on the other, if not outright fear.
How are we to live so as to not be overwhelmed by dread, suspicion, and fear in a world that can be as dangerous as it is delightful.
We need something potent enough to counter such persistent dread. That something is what I am calling original rest.
Before the first light of creation broke, there was rest. Genesis 1:2 reveals that the earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters. Picture God gently residing over the face of the deep as a mother bird hovering over its young. It is out of this relaxed state of God that ecstatic creation occurs. In the biblical story of beginning, creation doesn’t just end in restorative sabbath, it begins in it. This is more than the rest at the end of exhaustion. This is a rest so deep and original that everything begins to pour out from it.
Now, while holding that thought, imagine such original rest always being available to each of us. What if through prayer, meditation, contemplation, or just pausing we can tap into a relaxed awareness and appreciation of life that renews for continued engagement?
To intentionally build moments in each day to savor the fragrances of original rest is to experience rest as something more than reward and resistance but rest as holy resident within.
Rest is in God. God is in You. Rest is in You.
Such truth is formidable enough to face all dread and every fear. Beyond both is immeasurable creative delight fueled and fanned by original rest.
Excerpt from Three Beats Deep. Available in September, 2026.
