Book Review: Come, Sit, Stay by Ellen Vaughn

If I was completely honest with you I would tell you that I’m tired.

I’m tired of scrambling to make deadlines, of the endless demands at work, and the treadmill of chores at home. I’m tired of ministry responsibilities and that growing list of things that only mom can do. I’m tired of worrying about getting enough exercise and eating right and I’m tired of worrying that everyone else in my family does the same. I’m tired of financial pressures and fears that I don’t give back enough.

This inventory could go on and on but compiling this list here in black and white seems to make me even more tired. I can get so caught up in my own tired little universe that I forget that I have an open invitation to rest.

This is what Jesus offers us in Matthew 11:28: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

It was during a time of her own heavy tired that Ellen Vaughn revisited this familiar verse and meditated on just what it might really mean. The result is her book Come, Sit, Stay: Finding Rest for Your Soul, An Invitation to a Deeper Life in Christ. Vaughn notes that the commands of the Master—when distilled down—might sound similar to those one would hear in obedience school at the local PetSmart.

Come.

Sit.

Stay.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a dog person. Our Lucy Mae fairly rules the roost around these parts. I’m embarrassed to say that when it comes to obedience—it’s hard to say who commands who in our household. Still, I can appreciate what Vaughn is getting at here.

When we obey these commands, she says, the rich result is rest.

Vaughn does not beleaguer the dog metaphor; rather, she organizes a rich text around these four commands.

Come.

Sit.

Stay.

Rest.

And if you’re like me, you want to skip that last part—just get to the nitty-gritty, kick up the feet, and pull in for naptime. But if we do that, we are missing something very powerful about the invitation—something uniquely Divine.

The benefits of a good night’s sleep or an amazing massage that actually makes you whimper last only so long, and then the world and its worries intrude again…True rest is something far more mysterious. The way Jesus said it in the original language was “I will rest you”…His claim to be able to give people rest when they come to Him is rooted in the fact that He is God. He has all authority and power on heaven and earth. He can do miracles. He can rest us, in a supernatural, soothing, counterintuitive peace in the midst of any conflict, frustration, or challenge…

Come, Sit, Stay is nothing less than an in-depth look at the Gospel message with a careful analysis of the burdens we carry--the ones that hinder us from accepting the rest that Christ offers. Vaughn looks at the burdens of sin, shame, and “the shoulds”. She talks us through our ability to try to meet the expectations of other humans. And she talks about cultural influences that pull us away from the supernatural rest that Jesus offers us.

This book was a helpful reminder for me that receiving this rest—this supernatural enduring kind of rest—this is not a passive thing. It is an active faith that comes, sits, and stays with Jesus. I am indebted to Ellen Vaughn for reminding me what I was made for.

How about you? Are you weary? Come. Sit. Stay.

Rest.

Thank you to Worthy Publishing for the complimentary copy of this book used for this review.