How to Learn the Art of Leaning

One of my heroes, the late Dallas Willard, in his masterpiece, Renovation of the Heart, wrote, “We must start from where we really are.”

Fine, Dallas, I will.

By Wednesday of last week, I found myself unusually anxious. Perhaps most frustrating was that I couldn’t identify the source of my soul jitters. To boot, they were unmistakably disquieting. So, I started right there. Hello, anxiety. As I took time to acknowledge the alarm going off in my soul, a thought came: “You’re carrying too much weight and moving too quickly.”

For a type-A achiever like me, I wasn’t shocked by the statement. And thus, the challenge: if I was carrying too much weight and moving too quickly, I had to learn which weight needed to be transferred, how to offload it, and then how to slow down so that my pace matched the demands of my purpose and current priorities in an effort to silence the alarm in my soul.

In simple terms, I needed to learn how to lean. If my experience resonates with you this week, let’s take time to learn and apply the following together.

1. Learn

Solomon wrote, “Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; reverently fear and worship the Lord and turn [entirely] away from evil.”

When I read those verses again last week, the phrase “lean on” hit me in a fresh way. To lean on anything implies that weight is being transferred from one object to another. But what constitutes weight in much of our day-to-day context?

Burdens.
Unresolved disappointments.
Un-grieved losses.
Insecurities.
Fears.
Dreams and plans.
Relationships.
The languishing in our souls.

All of those experiences are obviously cumbersome. So why do we intentionally carry them? Well, for starters, I think many of us have trust issues. After people and life have let us down for the “umpteenth” time, trusting anyone or anything outside ourselves for life’s defining moments is a real chore, isn’t it? Trust does indeed require a track record. But it’s just that in this case, we’re learning how to trust a Person Who said He would never leave us or forsake us more than we are trusting an outcome. Now, add to that pain-laced cocktail a shot of pride, strong-willed independence, and dare I say deception, and it’s no wonder there are a lot of postmodern, enlightenment movement, “Be true to yourself” Oprah-isms hitting the pavement these days.

Hold my tea while I step on a soapbox and attempt to hit a target…

A linchpin narrative of the humanistic “follow your truth” tribe is built upon three flimsy, conjoined maxims:

Harness your inner power.
Trust yourself.
Do what feels good.
In translation, independence is the way to freedom and pleasure.

Uh-oh.

Now we have a conflict. The wisest man to ever live before Jesus said, “Don’t trust in your own insight or understanding. Stop relying upon your intellect and emotions as guides for your decisions.” For thousands of years, billions of people who lived before us heard this ancient, reliable wisdom. And many indexed their lives accordingly. Yet a lot of us today are still like, “Nah, I’m good.”

But why?

While there is a multitude of reasons, I believe many of us refuse to slow down our inner and outer pace long enough to confront mindsets and behaviors that are insidiously strangling our future; mindsets, and behaviors that at their core are antithetical to the lifestyle of the Kingdom. And one of those culprits is hurry.

2. Apply

As we look to apply this week’s teaching, I’ll pitch some quick math: Lean + Trust – Hurry = Newfound Peace and a New Pace

Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30 ESV)

“Take My yoke,” He said.

So, what’s in a yoke? Direction and pace. If you’re yoked to Him, you can’t move in a direction opposite of Him, nor at a pace different than His. He leads, you follow. Perhaps the way to “learn the lean,” therefore, is by confronting our self-preserving penchant to hurry, and instead, taking on Jesus’ direction and Jesus’ pace. Said another way, we must slow down and learn from Him. And in learning from Him, we will trust Him. And in trusting Him, we will obediently offload burdens we have no business bearing.

Learn. Trust. Lean.

Learning requires time. Trust requires faith and a core belief that you are loved and cared for. And thus, leaning is a natural response to trust.

Got it?

This week, I’d like you to ask the Lord the following questions in an effort to unburden your soul:

• What am I carrying that I need to unload?
• Where in my heart am I self-preserving and thus operating from a fear motivation?
• Is there anything in my heart that is hindering me from receiving from You today?
• What needs to change in my day-to-day pace?

Of great importance, if you’re new to listening prayer exercises, I really encourage you to unpack your discoveries with a trusted mentor, counselor, pastor, or advisor through the authority of Scripture because “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.” (Proverbs 11:14 ESV)

And finally, having taken time to slow down and gain clarity about the burdens you ought not to carry, you must act. Cancel the meeting. Clear your evening. Say “no” to the opportunity. Shut your phone off. Delete the Instagram app from your phone for a week. Read a book. Learn how to breathe properly.

Do what you must do to learn the lean.

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