To Run and Not Be Weary – Bryn Athyn Church

by Derek P. Elphick

The human heart is said to beat 35 million times a year without pausing for repairs! Under normal circumstances the heart will continue working at this pace for 70 or 80 odd years, never needing an “overhaul,” never needing to slow down or take a break, and all the while achieve the same peak level of performance. The only exception to this rule is physical death caused by extreme old age (when the heart has served its earthly purpose) or by some type of damage to the heart. Other than that, the heart doesn’t ever need to pause or rest in order to continue performing its task.

In a similar way, the Lord and His angels never pause, never “rest” in their effort to lead us toward heaven. The Lord’s attention to every single detail of our life “never stops” (Arcana Coelestia 6211). His mercy is constant with every person in this world and is “never withdrawn from anyone” (Heaven & Hell 522). In the book of Exodus we’re reminded of the fact that a pillar of cloud led the Israelites by day and a pillar of fire by night, and that this is a symbol of the Lord’s unceasing presence with us. In addition, the angels of heaven are said to be constantly “monitoring” our thoughts and intentions in the hope that they might bend these more and more in the direction of heaven (see Arcana Coelestia 5854).

This constant, methodical effort to promote all this is good and true begins to have an effect upon us, the recipient. We’re told that as the Lord’s love begins to rule more fully in us “an unceasing desire to know truth” starts to take root (Arcana Coelestia 5937). From having an erratic, irregular “pulse” toward the things of religion we find within ourselves a more consistent, reliable pulse. We begin to see how little we know and how much there is to learn. And this spiritual awakening, this growing sensitivity to spiritual realities not only increases our heart rate, our spiritual pulse – we also notice that we don’t need to slow down so much. We notice that we don’t need to take a break or pause from practicing the life of religion, from doing genuinely kind and thoughtful things for others.

Like the constant, methodical beat of the heart, the Lord and His angels are working with us every second of the day to promote what is honest, just and true. Let us do likewise and not pause in our effort to serve the Lord and our neighbor for “those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint…” (Isaiah 40:31).

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