Girl, rest!

Rest isn’t a concept I can remember being taught. Now, the art of taking a nap? I’ve mastered that! However, I’ve never known much about rest except that according to my denomination of faith, Sunday is the day we rest from the routines of life and attend church.

I didn’t have a true understanding of rest beyond this, until now.

I’ve spent most of August planning for The Retreat 2022. And I was proud of myself and the progress I’d made with the planning, advertising and registration until one day Superman made a comment about my imbalance of work and rest. Initially, I was offended. How can he tell me about my life? I know my life better than anyone else, right? No, apparently not. Then, I realized that rest is a foreign concept to me because I was living by the motto, “Work now, play later.” I’ve been told, “Go take a nap,” but I’d never been encouraged to rest. As children we’re taught to work hard and as adults we’re encouraged to “grind”. In fact, we respect, and often recognize, the people who do both. However, when we honor work, without also encouraging rest, it’s a disservice to the people we’re honoring.

Still, as I thought more about Superman’s comment, I realized I would never be able to identify the end of “work now” and the beginning of “play later”. So lately I’ve been intentional about incorporating rest into my weekly routines. And it’s been SO hard! There are moments where I feel like I’m wasting time because I’m not working. Then, I remind myself of the occasions I’ve worked with no rest and try to enjoy my rest time.

Think about the time Jesus spoke to the storm in Mark 4:35-40. The emphasis is always on the disciples’ lack of faith because of their fear of the storm, which is an important observation but let’s consider another. According to verse 35, the reason they were all on a boat is because Jesus suggested it was time to rest. He saw the crowd, knew there were people to heal, demons to cast out, and wisdom to be given. And yet, Jesus gets in the boat and He falls asleep.

For some of us, prioritizing rest requires a mindset shift because it goes against what you have learned or observed. But, if Jesus had to stop and rest, so do we.

So, if you’re an over-achiever like me with a never-ending To Do List, learn to rest. You deserve it!