Rest

In our culture our need for rest is often seen as a sign of weakness.  We praise those who are strong and able to work long hours.  We disdain our human need for rest and often push it away, sleeping less and working and playing more.   My actions and heart implicitly embrace this perspective.  I am proud of myself when I work hard and complete projects.  I notice when I am able to do more than others.

Our lives are less because of this orientation.  Rest was part of the order of creation right at the very beginning.  Placing rest as an optional extra and as less important than work has deeply scarred the landscape of our being and our culture.  We need the spaces and empty reaches in the gardens of our lives.  Life is full of paradoxes that need to be acknowledged and lived actively in their tension.  Work and rest are both deeply woven into our being.

By its nature, rest cannot be stored up.  It needs to be a part of the very fabric of our daily lives.  Each day take time to rest, to be alone, to be still and quiet.  We are often encouraged to take quiet time with God early each morning.  Our times with God are vitally important, but so is our sleep.  If you get up early, then go to bed earlier.  Do not trade time with God for physical rest. In order to have rest and space, we need to remove things. There will be things we cannot do.  We are not wired to do everything.  It is only when our ego and need for recognition gets in the way that we cannot let go.  Rest may seem impossible when we are caring for small children or those who are needy and not well.  Be creative.  Rest may look more like breathers of time where we let the children watch a favorite television show, have down time to look at picture books for five minute intervals, or we take them on a walk.  It may be that we let go of some of our multitasking for a time.  Even our most active children also need to know how to rest from our example.

It is only in the rest and stillness that we are able to hear the quiet voices of what we are called to do.  Let go of the other things even though they may be good things.  Our lives will not appear perfect, but it is only in the imperfection that there is truly the richness of life.  Some things will be left incomplete and undone.  Listen in the times of rest and do what is most important.  In these times of outer rest we will also begin to know the glimpses of deeper stretches of rest of the soul in God that can be with us always.

Rest.  An organized friend of mine once spelled it out in a helpful way.  He scheduled eight hours of sleep each night. He took an hour of waking time each day to rest. Scheduled a day each week.  A weekend each month.  A week each few months.  For you it may look different, but be creative and innovative.  Find rest.