Rest

For those of us who are doers, rest is a hard command. We feel unproductive and lazy. We want to rebuke the slothfulness that tries to creep in. We at times, actually feel like rest is a sin.

I love the cycle of the Old Testament feasts. We have been practicing them as a family for years (very imperfectly!) but it is a great example of how God wanted our lives to be. He put in feasts so that his people could rest and rejoice, to forget their slavery from Egypt. Every week on Friday, at sundown, the people would gather in their homes to break bread, light the candles and cease work for 24 hours. This is Shabbat, or sabbath.

Jesus was consistently chewed out by the rule followers for breaking the sabbath by healing all the people. I do not think he did not observe times of rest since the Bible tells us he went away by himself (Matt. 14:23), he took naps (Luke 8:23), and even got tired and needed refreshing (see John 4). The difference with Jesus was that he was always more concerned with the broken and hurting to know when kingdom work superseded the rule. Logical thinking, reasoning, and being moved by the Holy Spirit is what allows us to prioritize what God prioritizes.

When it comes to rest, I think it is important to reflect on what happens to you in the stillness of a moment. Do you begin planning the next thing, or do you begin dreaming with God about a new season of life? One is work, the other is rest. Do you feel you have to earn an evening off, or are you able to reflect on your accomplishments and call it good. When God created the world, he looked out on all he did and said it was good, why can't we?

Make goals, work hard, but then stop. Take the moment to reflect. This helps our brains to really acknowledge what happened that day, to feel the emotions and to release them for what they are. It is a healthy practice that allows us to not become bitter from our past, but also gain much needed hope for our future.

In one of my classes, it was said that human beings need 1 hour a day, 1 day a week, 1 week a year, and 1 month a decade to unplug, to rest, to be in a sabbatical type situation. To stop striving, to be with God, to be still and know that He is God (Psalms 46:10). It is a perspective shift from me thinking I am holding it all together, when the reality is that God is the one that holds all things together (Col. 1:17).

My prayer is that you find a rhythm of rest in your life, so that you can live life to the fullest, just as Jesus planned for you.