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The book of Ecclesiastes w as w ritten by a very

restless m an. He w as fed up w ith h is life and

everything had become meaningless to him.

He w rote, I hated life. All of it is meaning-

less, a chasing after the w ind. I hated all the

t h i n g s I h a d t o i l e d f o r u n d e r t h e s u n

(Ecclesiastes 2:17-18).

Do you find yourself in the same boat? Is

th ere som e w ork that seem s so pointless to

you t hat you find y ourself doing it distractedly

because you are fed up w ith doing it and y ou

w ish you w ere som ew here else?

We quote St. Augustine: Our heart s are

restless until th ey rest in Thee. But do w e

live it out? Do w e not tend instead to live, like

the godless w orld around us, as if our perpetual

restlessness is more or less normal, assuming

that our lives are supposed to be a series ofstruggles to achieve closure ? Subconsciously,

w e rephrase the q uote: My heart is restless

until it rests at the end of this current effort.

U ntil t hen, naturally I w ill be agitated.

Think back over yesterday. Did somebody

upset you? (your spouse or your children or

the driver in front of you on the highw ay, per-

haps?) Did you become frustrated about your

ow n failure to accom plish som e w ork? Were

you disgusted w ith your boss? Were you w or-ried about a medical problem?

Wh a t w e re y o u w o r ri e d a b ou t l a s t

Wednesday? Did the worrying do you any

good? You know it didnt. Worrying is forbid-

den (read Mat th ew 6:25, Ph i l ippians 4 :6,

Psa lm 37). It is useless, a colossal w ast e of

tim e. Still, w e carry on as if its unavoidable.

Rest is a divine gift. But ent ering into rest is

a lesson that a l l of us must learn. Can you

accept this m oment , just this one, t rust ing

Him and becoming still before Him? Can you

do it w hen you are in a traffic jam , becoming

tardier by th e minut e for an appointm ent? It is

G od s appo in tm ent fo r yousi t t in g there

breathing exhaust fumes, learning to calm

your soul by acknow ledging tha t He is in

charge of every detail of your life and that

every th ing th a t h appens to you has com e

through t he hedge of His love.

There is alw ays t im e enough to do the w ill

of G od. The great t hing is to m ake our plan-

ning subject t o G ods perfect plan, laying our

agendas at His feet and asking Him to help us

choose w isely. All of us have duties. How

gratefully and calmly we carry them out will

indicate how w e have obeyed Him.S o m e o n e I l ov e w a s g o i n g t h r o u g h a

divorce. When she heard that her husband had

gone to court, it w as next t o im possible for her

to rest in t he Lord and w ait patiently for the

outcom e. Over and over, she realized tha t she

w as f re t t ing a new, losing her peace. With

G o d s gr a c e s h e w a s a b l e , m o m e n t b y

m oment , to lay her burden at His feet. Step by

step, asking for G ods help, putt ing her trust in

H i m o v e r a n d o v e r , s h e p r o v e d t h a t H eHim self is the road to peace and t he gatew ay

to joy.

I have put m y t rust in You (Psalm 143:8).

Putis an active verb and trustis a purposeful,

not passive, choice. I may have to combine

ac t ive t rus t ing wi th t ak ing myse l f by the

scruff of the neck to undertake an unpleasant

task . I may have to decide to terminate a

ISSN 8756-1336

Septem ber/Oc to ber 2003

Rest lessness and Worry

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pleasant a ctivit y to w hich I resorted in m y agi-

ta tion. ( I just need a break. ) I may have to

re-do a project that I ruined in my restless

hast e. I m ay have t o apologize for w ords spo-

ken out of anxiety.

Eventua lly, the restless Teacher w ho w rote

Ecclesiastes discovered how to be happy. It is

good and proper for a m an t o find satisfact ion in

his t oilsome labor under the sun during the few

days of life. . . . G od enables him to enjoy t hem,

to accept his lot and be happy in h is w orkthis

is a gift of G od (Ecclesiast es 5:18-19).

Diminishment

(Th is was taken from a message to hi s congre-ga t i o n f r om D r . Ch a r l es M cLa i n o f Bl u e

Val ley Baptist Church i n O lath e, Kansas. It

w as sent to m e by a fri end .)

D o you t rust G od? We in the church spend a

great deal of t ime speaking about trust ing

G od in all things, but do w e really trust Him

to provide for our needs, help us to solve

problems, supply the strength to face daily

trials, face our fears, overcom e our w eakness-es and handicaps? D o w e sim ply believe tha t

no m atter w hat com es into our lives, G od is

w ith us and can be fully trusted? The great

th inker and w riter Pierre Teilhard de Ch ardin

had a di f ferent way of s ta t ing his t rust in

G o d . H e s pe a k s o f c o m m u ni o n t h r o u gh

diminishment :

When th e signs of age begin to m ark my body

(and still m ore w hen they t ouch m y m ind);

w hen the ill this is to dim inish m e or carry

m e off

strikes from w ithout or is born w ithin m e;

w hen the painful mom ent comes in w hich

I suddenly aw aken to the fact

that I am ill or grow ing old,

and above all at that last m oment,

w hen I feel I am losing hold of m yself

and am absolutely passive w ithin t he hands

of the great unknown forces that have formed

m e,

in all those dark mom ents, O G od,

grant t hat I m ay understand tha t it is You

w ho are painfully part ing the f ibers of m y

being

in order to penetrate to t he very m arrow of my

substance

and bear m e aw ay w ithin Yourself.

When life throw s you a curve, w hen prob-

l em s s ee m t o ha ve no a ns w e r, w he n f ea r

gains th e upper hand, w hat are w e to do? We

m ust t rus t , ho ld ing on to t he unchang ing

truth t hat G od is absolutely faithful. In mym oment s of w eakness I cling to Psalm 56:3,

w hich reads, What t im e I am afraid, I w ill

trust in Thee.

John Q uin cy A dam s

When John Quincy Adam s w as w ell past the

usual span of life, a young friend met him on

the street and asked, How is John Quincy

Adam s today?

Adams replied: John Q uincy Adam s is very

w ell, thank you. But the house he lives in is

sadly dilapidated. It is tott ering on its founda-

tions. The w alls are badly shatt ered and the roof

Up t o 100 copies of an a rticle may be made for private distribution but n ot

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more than 100 copies of an article, please write t o the new sletter.

2003 by Elisabeth Elliot G ren

The Elisabeth Elliot Newsletter is published six times a year by Servant

Publications. The cost is $7.00 per year. Tax-deductible donations make it

possible for those who are unable to pay to receive the letter free. Please

send donations to The Elisabeth Elliot Newsletter, P.O. Box 7711, Ann

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U.S. dollars draw n on a U .S. bank.

F o r m o re in fo rm at io n abo u t reso urc es by E l i sabe th E l l i o t , v i s i t her

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n i z e d b y D r . N a t h a n B a r l o w t o h e l p

Ethiopians w ho have a disease very much like

elephantiasis. D r. Barlow, w ho is now in his

90s, has w orked for years w ith th ese people,

offering a simple rem edy, th at of w earing

socks and shoes.

The shoes a re made in E th iop ia by t he

patients themselves, who have been taught to

make them by hand. But there is a need for

socks, and it happens that a shipment can be

sent to Ethiopia with a doctor who is going

th ere in September.

I f you care to donate socks ( top of sock

unbanded, mens sizes only, cotton-synthetic

blend only, any color except w hite , best i f

new), please send them to Dr. Nathan Barlow,

1411 Sw eetbriar C ircle, C arlsbad, CA 92009.

Lars Rambl ingsFrom the Cove

She sure nailed me. No, w e dont remem ber to

pray before our meal 100 percent of the time.

The m ind slips. Still, it is not often w e miss

doing it, w hether at hom e or out for a meal. I

cant remember where it happenedat homeat the kitchen t able or at a one-fork restaurant

(as opposed to a tw o- or th ree-fork ty pe w ith

real napkins). Suffice it to say, I had already

sam pled the food w hen Elisabeth said, Arent

w e going to pray? Sure, just forgot. I put

m y fork dow n, c losed my eyes, sa id a few

w ords, then am en, and picked up m y fork

again, w hereupon Elisabeth said, D id you

meantha t? I w as nailedreal goodby th e

t ru th o f her s t a t ement . To w hom and fo r

w hom did I pray?

That happened fairly recently. It reminded

me of a vivid memory from the distant past,

forty years ago or so, a different prayer for a

different m eal. It w as on one of my trips hom e

to see Far (m y grandfather) in N orw ay. We had

w alked to tow n from his apartment and it w as

is w orn. The building trem bles w ith every w ind,

and I think John Quincy Adams w ill have to

m ove out before long. But he him self is very

w ell, thank you.

Teachi ng Thought fu lness

G ood parents t each their children that it is not

enough to c la im tha t y ou re being good

m erely because you havent punched any body

today or run off w ith a nybody elses toys or

cookies, havent teased your little brother or

argued w ith y our m other. Parents must also

teach positive acts of thoughtfulness such as

doing obvious thin gs w ithout h aving to be

asked: Feed the baby his applesauce, pick upthe garbage the dogs strew ed around the y ard,

help your sister clean up her room, replace the

paper and pencil that someone else took from

near the telephone. In short, parents model

and teach that Love is thoughtful of others.

Love sees what ought to be done and goes

ahead and does it.

From m y Journals (1973)

The great Shepherd of th e sheep brings His

flock slow ly an d carefully as t hey are ready for

it to the dark valleys and the ravines. One of

these valleys is where a sheep may find him-

self apparently cut off from the rest of the

flock. Lonely, perhaps ostracized because of

misunders t anding or i so la t ed fo r ano ther

reason, he must then learn that the Shepherd

is all th at he needs.

A Great N eed

For very little money, a great need can be met

for The Mossyfoot Project, w hich I have m en-

tion ed before in this new sletter. It w as orga-

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Non-profitOrganizationU.S. Postage

PAIDPermit No. 14

Ann Arbor, MI

Servant Min istries, Inc.

Post Office Box 7711

Ann Arbor, Mich igan 48107-7711

ADD RESS SERVICE REQUESTED

about lunch time. Near the tow n square w as a

very small shop called m elk em eier ie t. Far

asked if I w ould care for a plat e of fl atb rd-

soll. It is sour milk, or we might say butter-

milk, with the cream still in it. On top of the

skin of cream you crunch up fl atbrt(a very

thin, flat cracker) and sprinkle sugar on it .

Delicious. The little place was crowded with

workmen who had come to ge t something

to go or to sit dow n to eat . It w asnt long

before th e w ai t ress placed the tw o dishes

before us.

Have you ever seen the print of the old

man sit t ing at a wooden table with a knife

and a loa f o f bread on i t , his head on his

folded hands resting on the table? That was

Far tha t noon in Kr is t iansand. He pushedhis plate toward me to make room for his

f o l d ed h a n d s a n d b o w e d f o r a n a u d i b l e

prayer, a visible sign of an invisible reality.

No haste , no sense of obl iga t ion, no se l f-

consc iousness , jus t g r a t i tude to the One

w ho ha d filled his every need for over eighty

years. A sense of presence, a short interval

of comm union.

Whats the difference, one might say? Its

hard to brush off th e dif ference w hen onereads Jesus w ord, This people honors m e

w ith th eir l ips, but th eir heart is far from

m e; in vain do they w orship me, teaching as

doctrines the precepts of m en. Or, D o not

heap up empty phrases.

Whether I heard it or read it som ew here, I

recall the thought that anim als give thanks to

their Creator in their sigh of contentment

w hen they lie dow n an d are at peace. A mean-

ingful sigh in response to Elisabeth s arent

w e going to pray? m ay h ave been truer than

m y few w ords spoken in haste. I should add

some thought t o the next t im e I thank G od

for our daily bread.

That s it from t he C ove.

Travel ScheduleSeptem ber-O ctober 2003C heck for last-m inute engagem ents online at

w w w .elisabethelliot.org

October 4Fellow ship D eaconry, 3575

Valley Road, Liberty C orner, N .J.

07938, (908)647-1777.

October 23Southeastern Baptist

Theological Seminary, Wake Forest,

North Carolina., (919)761-2305.

October 25Kempsville Presbyterian

C hurch, Virginia Beach, Virginia,

(757)495-1913.

November 1Ockenga Instit ute, G ordon-

C onw ell Theological Sem inary.

(800)294-2774.