I originally wrote this post on Feb 1st of 2016.
REST a four letter word that can be so elusive. A word that too many can rank right up there with some of the worst words out there. Who would have thought that a word as simple as rest could bring up so many emotions.
As I sit here drinking my cup of tea I think about rest. Our son is all tucked in for the night so that he can rest before he starts a new week full of school, boy scouts and whatever else happens to pop up along the way. (Seeing the movie Kung Foo Panda 3 is a top priority on his list). My husband and daughter are gone to Winter Jam (3 hours away) so there won’t be much rest for them before the new week begins. So I sit quietly drinking my tea listening to the whir of the dryer and ponder why we avoid rest.
Rest is so important to our bodies and our health yet it is one of the things that we try so hard to avoid. It’s like if we stop to rest we are missing out. If we stop just long enough to rest we might just have to feel and not be able to run. If we stop to rest we might just get the much needed sleep our bodies are screaming for, warning us that if we don’t then our bodies are going to stop us so that we have to REST. According to Genesis God even rested on the 7th day so obviously rest is important. Yet we avoid it.
So why do we not take time to rest. Why do we not find the importance to even carve out 15-30 mins a day for rest and I mean real REST! The argument of well I did rest, I watched TV, I surfed Facebook and I even pinned “how to simplify your life projects” and pinned some “feel better prayers” so I rested. This is not real rest. While it may feel like rest we are still making our minds go, still demanding our brains to think, still planning things that cause us to rush around even more.
Real REST is taking the time to sit quietly and allow our minds to take a break. It’s letting ourselves stop and listen. To hear what God is trying to tell us. To hear what our bodies are trying to tell us and maybe, just maybe if we stop and Rest we might just hear what are families are trying to tell us.
God designed us to be able to go but he also designed us for rest. He built our bodies to be able to refresh themselves every night. However, if we don’t allow our bodies to get the REST that they need, then they can not function properly and that’s when sickness and disease sneak in.
So often the world tells us to keep going, schedule more, get the kids involved in more, keep going and do more if you ever want to be more. But in reality all this does is make us tired and weary. In Psalm 22:2 it says: “My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest”. We so often cry out and feel like no one hears us, yet God hears us and is telling us to simply REST. He wants us to stop and just take a breath, breath in the moment, breath in his REST.
There is a wonderful passage that shows us what rest is all about. It reminds me of a line that sounds like it should be in a child’s bedtime story…..Proverbs 24:33 “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest”.
This week let’s carve out some time to rest. Schedule 15-20 mins a day to just sit and rest. Turn off the electronics and simply REST. If this means spending some quiet time with the Lord in prayer great. If it means you cuddle up and take a nap, great! Whatever it means to you, please take the time to REST. Your body needs it and your soul needs it! God designed you to take time to rest, so simply enjoy some rest.
Blessings, Michelle