What About Rest?

Linda is a friend and very wise person. This blog is a great reminder that taking time for rest is a key discipline for a healthy life. Nap without guilt!

What About Rest?

The concept of rest was brought to my attention this week as someone told me, and others confirmed, that I needed rest. “But I was sick last weekend and rested,” was the excuse that I gave, and “I have kids! Rest is reserved for grey-haired dogs and newborns.” Rest isn’t something that I naturally gravitate toward. I like tasks, and busy, and hands on activities. Rest feels like a cousin to the nap, and the nap feels like the lazy teenager who fatigues from shutting the closet door.

To a fault, I don’t rest, and my lack of rest was having a negative effect, which God made very clear. While I spend my prayer time asking God to allow me to bring people to the feet of Jesus, He was so gently telling me that He wants me at Jesus’ feet. Those words struck hard. “Oh, now I see,” I thought. “You want ME.”

Rest is an interesting concept. Rest is biblical. God rested. Jesus rested. I felt convicted and decided to do something about it. In addition to the physical rest, I sensed even more, the need to rest my mind. I can become so easily entangled with anxiety over our girl who moved to Portland, our temperamental teenage boys, our 22 year old and his education path, the health of our parents, the state of our cars, the emptiness of our refrigerator, the fullness of our dishwasher, the technology vacuum, and so much more.

But I decided to rest my mind, my body, my thoughts, my head, my feet, my everything. I napped without guilt! I listened to worship songs, I shifted my thoughts, and I began to reignite my time with God so that I could rest in Him and listen at His feet. This rest idea is working. I look to Him more often and I breathe. I am trying to encourage more and resist the urge to fix-everyone. I am soaking in God’s Words instead of filling my mind with my words. The act of rest is working.

As I submit to God, knowing that He is in control of everything, I CAN rest, because He never does.

What about you? What would your day look like if you took time to rest? What if you breathed deeply? What would your week look like if you paused every now and again and listened to God? Try it!

Just rest.

This blog first appeared here.