rest

A few weeks back I found myself spending some time around the table with friends over dinner discussing "rest".  We talked about what true rest is and what it is not.  We discussed the need for space in our lives for true rest and how we can be more intentional about that.  We were designed by a loving Creator to need and to benefit from rest, but far too often we pass up those opportunities.  We end up being a people running on empty....burnt out....striving constantly but never quite feeling like we're enough or that we're doing enough....simply never having enough time in our days and weeks.

As we gathered around the table, we gathered with no other agenda than spending time with each other being physically and spiritually fed.  We spent intentional time creating space and creating quiet in our life.  Each of comes with different responsibilities and in different seasons in life.  Some of us are working full time outside the home and some not.  Some are single and some are married.  Some have small children at home and others do not.  So naturally we each had different perspectives on rest.

For some of us the struggle is actually slowing down enough to create space in our life.  Many times we struggle to sit still and spend time with the Lord, because we feel we should be doing something else "productive".  We start to measure our worth in terms of how productive we are.  How many tasks did we accomplish today?  How much of my to-do list did I make it to?  What do I need to be doing right now?  We may see the ever-growing mountain of things to get done and think that we have to do it all and right now.  The idea that we need and were created for rest just doesn't seem to sit right with us when there are loads of laundry to be done and a sink full of dirty dishes.  When the floors need to be swept and mopped before company comes to visit next weekend.  It's hard to rest on the Sabbath when it's a perfectly good day to mow the lawn.  How do we rest when we still have two chapters to read before tomorrow's midterm?  How do we rest when we have a stack of papers to grade, emails to answer, progress notes to finish from patients I saw earlier, a business plan to work on?  The list goes on and on and on and on.  And.... it always will.  There's always work to be done.  There's always something we can find to do.  And don't get me wrong work is a great thing, and we should go about it with excellence in all that we do, but rest is important and even commanded.  When we rest it forces us to take the attention off of ourselves and what we are doing and place the attention on God and what He is doing.  It helps maintain a proper perspective.  It reminds us that God sustains it all even when we stop.  We can rest and the world keeps on spinning without us.

For others of us the struggle is the opposite.  We may think we're really great at "resting", but if we're really being honest with ourselves we're just plain lazy.  There's a difference between true fulfilling rest and laziness.  A Sunday nap is one thing, but lying on the couch to watch 5 straight episodes of a Law & Order SVU marathon.....I'm gonna go with that's lazy.  Rest should fill us up.  Refocus our hearts.  Refresh and restore us.  We definitely need physical rest, but as I've found in my case,  too much of a good thing can definitely be a bad thing.  Laziness doesn't refresh or restore or refocus my heart.  It usually serves to drain me even more and make me depressed and more focused on myself instead of on God and His truths and character.  No wonder I can walk away from a "day of rest" feeling even more empty and depleted or come back from a "vacation" feeling like I need a vacation after the vacation.

During our time together around the table, my friends and I shared ideas of how we can be more intentional to make space for rest in our lives and what that time could look like.  Saying no to good things at times to make space.  Not just passively sitting around doing nothing but actively resting.....meaning that we spend time reading Scripture.  Read books that encourage and inspire us.  Unplug from technology for a while.  Spend time investing in meaningful relationships with others.  Spend time with others who encourage us and push us to know God in a deeper way.  Spend time outdoors in the created world.

Hopefully you'll be encouraged to create space in your life for rest.  Space for quiet and calm.  Space for stillness instead of striving.  May we be people who have souls that rest in the Lord who has been good to us!