It looks like I was already thinking about rest back in August. I don’t usually repost something so recent, but I think it is highly appropriate. I originally titled it, “For Those of Us Who Never Stop” and I believe I was beginning to feel the pinch right before school began. And because today is Sunday maybe we should take an extra hour or two to really rest in a type of Sabbath. I will explore the idea of Sabbath as the month progresses, but take a few minutes today to breathe and pray and just stop. Can you carve out a bit of your Sunday to rest?
I’m going to guess that if you are anything like me, it has been awhile since you’ve just stopped.
Sat. Stayed. Closed your eyes and let yourself just be.
No phone, no kindle. No laptop. No magazine.
Just stopped.
You drive and run and rush to all the places and people who need you. You tick boxes off of to-do lists and you race around after toddlers who leave comet-trails of goldfish crackers in their wake. You build businesses and followings and you walk dogs and search for new things to fill your time with.
In the past weeks you haven’t taken the time off of laundry or dishes and organizing the kids drawers before school starts for the fall to even
Take a breath.
And then when you aren’t running you are sitting and moving your fingers along the electronic devices that are knit to your hands.
Nothing bad will happen if you just stop. I promise.
Nobody will die if you put it all down for an hour or a day and just let it all stop.
Yes, your kitchen may pile with the dirty leftovers of a morning and the toddler might dump her dress-up box out all over the stairs. The grocery list might go un-bought for another day and that blog post might still wait in the draft folder.
But you will remember what it is like to be quiet.
So today, turn the computer off. Place your phone upside down on the kitchen counter and leave it there. Tell your to-do list it will have to wait another day. And then begin the process of unbinding your mind to the information that hangs in it and your body from the need and desire it feels to keep moving.
Rest today. Sleep, even. But just be.
Maybe you’ll find that smile again {and some silence} if you stop.
How will you carve out a piece of today to stop? What does that look like for you?
Originally posted here. To read all my Thirty-one Days of Rest posts, click here. Leave a comment? Click here.
as one of the a/v geeks at church, i rarely have a sunday to rest, given that many sundays require I work the sound booth for 2 services. all the driving i get done leaves time for barely anything save lunch before i turn around and get ready for the evening service.
i’ve considered a saturday sabbath (how vogue of me) but as a runner i long run saturday mornings. 10+ miles is hardly rest. then of course with no time to clean sunday and working full time monday – friday….SIGH
thankfully, i have a job where i earn (and catch no flack) for using vacation days. so that’s what tomorrow shall be. perhaps i’ll hike with my husband. maybe i’ll just sit on my front porch and read. but no house work. no church work. and dinner will be prepared for the crockpot tonight.
I struggle with this so much! I never allow myself to stop. I feel so much pressure to get everything done and I feel like if I don’t get it done, I’m dropping the ball and I will never catch up. Thank you for the encouragement to take a break. I am going to try really hard this week to find time for rest.
ugh me too. i’m traveling this week and that usually messes everything up, doesn’t it? hoping and praying rest for you.
Thank you so much!
Rest. Something we need. Something we all neglect. But I do find when I finally take the time to truly find rest, He meets me there…every time. So why does it always take me so long to remember that’s what I needed in the first place?
wow just found your blog and what a perfect post to first read. I had a very busy week putting finishing touches on a retreat, hosting my launch party for my new business, and today I think i just need to rest. so Thank you for the reminder!!!!
I believe this in theory. I teach others to do it. I blog about it. But I have so much trouble doing it myself. I try. I really do.
thanks for the reminder.
Sandy
I love this post and your 31 days series . . . it’s so much like what I’m trying to learn with my 31 days too. Now if I only had more answers and less questions. Although I guess questions are the things that lead us to seek, to find, to rest in His wisdom when we are weak . . . Anyways, I’m excited to read the rest of your posts!