My body has been getting up at 5 lately but by brain gets up closer to 5:15.
It follows a routine as it walks downstairs and after I’ve had a few sips of my coffee, my synapses finally stand to attention. Needless to say, each day at about 12:42pm my body screams at me to lie on the sofa and shut my eyes before I jump in the car to get my kids from school.
Sometimes I obey and sometimes I shuffle through the afternoon like a zombie.
I guess I need to incorporate more rest into my day somehow. But it’s hard we live the life of 21st century work-at-home mothers who literally squeeze the marrow out of each minute of our days.
Let’s just face it. I’m {we’re} exhausted.
For some reason last fall, our family got to December and wondered where the autumn went. We had been filling our days and weekends with good things but perhaps not the things that gave us the joys of the season that we’d envisioned in the heat of August.
I wonder now, if that feeling of loss had anything to do with the fact that I spent the month of October busying around DOING and not ENJOYING. If I didn’t incorporate rest, somehow, into my life. We all know that time moves faster when we are busy, right?
Yesterday I worried all day that I didn’t have a 31 days of something. Nester and all her friends are writing for 31 days about something and I sat with a blank cursor and nothing except fear that I won’t be able to do anything consistently for 31 days in a row. The thought of having to come up with something for this blog every day until Halloween scares the crap out of me.
If Nester will still have me, I’m in.
So I’m going to talk this month about resting. I guess some of it has to do with a need in ME to rest, giving myself and others the grace to rest and wondering if I really can incorporate rest into my daily life without becoming lazy.
Heck. I may get to the 15th and run out of stuff to say. I really hope not. Or maybe I will just write, write, write all month about it and by Halloween you’ll all just want to take a nap. We’ll see.
I think, however, that we may all find that rest is about something more than napping.
And then if this writing project takes me on a journey of stress and NOT rest, well, then, I’ll have learned that as well.
Praying you will find rest this month as you journey with me.
What have YOU learned about rest? Is there any topic here you would like me to explore? Are you doing a “31 days” blog journey?
WELCOME TO MY 31 DAYS JOURNEY!
TO READ ALL THE POSTS SO FAR IN THIS SERIES, CLICK HERE.
I too am doing the 31 day challenge but am sure there are days I won’t have a clue what to say. I think rest is a great topic. We don’t rest nearly enough these days. Sometimes, we just need to be still and listen to what we’re being told/shown.
I also wanted to say I follow your blog as well and love it. I look forward to your 31 days of thoughts.
yes i agree, stephanie!! thank you so much for following along. hopefully we all wont’ be sick of me by november. =)
To rest well, I have to relax. If I go to sleep tense, I wake up tense. Rest goes beyond just sleep, and the peace of just being with someone….like that feeling I get when my baby totally relaxes on me and knows he is secure. (If you can find ideas in that, go for it.) I had to snort to myself because the reason I decided NOT to blog for 31 days straight is partially related to the life I need to keep up….and blast, I couldn’t figure out a creative topic or a topic I felt I could be creative with for (gasp) 31 days. At this point, I’m still sort of a sleep-deprived mother of an infant. Does lack of rest effect creativity?
i’m sure it does, lisa! i was already thinking about the idea of sleep and how it affects the whole of our personalities! and i remember my babies falling asleep on me too. sigh. what a beautiful thing. =)
ah, the ellusive rest. i look forward to this series, even if its the only 5 minutes of the day i feel like i get rest.
mmm. so glad you will follow along, brooke! =)
Sarah,
Beautiful, needed topic! Thank you for sharing! I am actually posting a little something about sleep tomorrow(though my topic isn’t entirely about rest). I completely agree with you! Rest is so needed.
Looking forward to your series(even if it only lasts to the 15th!). ; )
Blessings,
Elise
thank you elise!! i agree — needed. for me, for sure! if only to help me gather my thoughts thru the month, it will be worth it! =)
With other things that are going on in my life, I was hesitant to commit to 31 days of anything. But I’m looking forward to your series!
ha! me too! it is a leap for me for sure. thank you for following along. =)
“find that rest is about something more than napping”
How true! There is a difference when my soul finds true rest- that leads to restoration.
I love the theme.
I’ve jumped into the 31 days series- and (trying) to trust God to show up to give words, because I’m not sure exactly where I’m going!
so glad you are too, melanie! =) i love that idea – soul’s rest. and i am trusting God to give me words too =)
Rest. There is so much I’ve learned, and so much more I need to! I’ve learned not to overdo it… my body and mind is most at rest when I’m at home doing what I enjoy – taking care of the home: cleaning, laundry, organizing – I love it!
Now that I’m working from 8-6 outside of the home, it’s definitely important that I find rest when I can.
Resting in God. OH, how much I need to learn this… I’m hoping I’ll learn to rest as I go through my own 31 Days journey: 31 Days to Intimate Prayer
Maybe we can learn some things together?
yes!! and your series sounds great anna!! i love that! =)
Rest. I so desperately need it. There is no room in our American lives and culture for it. There really is too much to be done. Too much preperation needed for rest and not enough time for that prep…
oh yes, we must prepare to rest, don’t we? i’ve been thinking about that already too.
So glad I saw this from you. I struggle with trying to commit myself to doing something for an extended period of time. This is just the sort of thing I need and will gladly try to join along. Such a Great Month for me to begin something like this with, as I feel like it’s the beginning of a brand new year for my life journey as the last year has been a difficult one. And your topic… Whoa…REST is something we all strive for in so many areas of our life. I try to tell my self every day “Let Go and Let God”… when I do that so many things seem to align themselves automatically…. but being a working mother, wife, friend, sister, daughter, employee…brings out the “Control Freak” and “SHE” doesn’t believe that everything can get finished without her help (or hinderance). I’ll gladly follow your blog and write daily about my topic of 31 Days of Living “Now”. Your beauty shines in all your writing Sarah!! Blessings….
thank you Rhonda! And i love your idea of living NOW! what a great thing to practice! =)
you are speaking my language. i’m doing 31 Day to Practice Peace, and i think our hearts overlap–especially since i don’t want this undertaking to be a source of stress.
i wonder–for you and for me–what it looks like to practice sabbath well. blessings as you rest and write:)
i love that suzannah! i agree — thinking about sabbath too.
Such an important topic Sarah! How do we rush through a season as beautiful as fall sacrificing true enjoyment for the sake of doing it all. Thank you for the reminder to stop and enjoy. Looking forward to your posts!
thank you jessica!! =)
Girl, your 31 days and my 31 days should totally get together and go on a date. It would be very quiet and very restful. Love you! This sounds fantastic.
hahaha! Emily, since I initially read all the blogs I follow on a feed, when I first saw this post I thought it was you! I was so confused! I was like, “Wait a minute… I thought she was already doing 31 days: Hush” It took me a minute to realize it was Sarah and not you writing this post! Either way, I am loving following both of your blogs and these 31 days
that’s funny anna! i admire emily greatly! =)
they should go on a date. i love your idea of curious listening!. (b/c you and i resonate so much anyway). i love yours, girl, and can’t wait to follow along =)
So excited to follow you over the next month. I actually came across a few posts I did on rest a while back and was thinking to myself I want to re-read this again and put it into practice because so how I have gotten off course. Everyone (kids and husband)always needs me to take care of them so it’s hard to rest. I am seriously training my kids to do nothing on our sabbath. It’s comical me trying to explain to them “mommy is going to do nothing”.
I recently starting napping now that my youngest is in kindergarten. 2:00-2:45 right before 3:00 pick up. I agree resting is more than just napping. The sleep is good but it’s more about disconnecting and just being, knowing the world is not going to stop if i take some time to recharge. For me it’s like being shut down and rebooting.
ooh i like what you said about disconnecting. so important. thank you for commenting!
I’m so with you, mama. Rest. I need that bad these days. In every sense of the word!
yes!! thank you!!
Love you, Sarah, and am praying for you as you do the topic “rest” this month! Kind of ironic, eh? I love your sense of humor and how you are just you . ..wonderful you. God has told me to “rest” in His grace. Since we know He provides us with all the grace we need . . .ya, He was telling me I can rest more than I do. So, still learning about this and how to do it the way He wants me to. God bless you on your journey!
It’s funny how sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and can’t find rest. I get up out of bed in the morning tired. It’s very hard to automatically find rest when we stay so wired into everything. It you come up with some answers at the end of 31 days — I’ll be very interested.
right. i think a lot of it is untethering ourselves from the information onslaught. I hear you!! =)
Sarah, Just your attitude toward posting for 30 days is inspiring. Thanks for just being out there and sharing your thoughts.
31 days of rest sounds wonderful! Yes, I need it. We need it. Thanking God for giving you this topic. It’s a good reminder for me!
thank you joni! =)
Rest. Yesterday I thought, “go take a nap,” but that is something i rarely do. Feeling like I should be doing while wrestling the grace voice to be still and not do is so hard for me (which may be exactly why i currently have an injured ankle, wrist, and back… hmm.) Looking forward to your thoughts on rest.
I’m 31 Daying, too. Writing to my future.
Remember when you wrote the A-Z series? That is still my favorite series in all of blogville.
oh yes, i do. that was so long ago. thank you for saying that, denise. =)
and so sorry about your injuries. boo. =(
i am a follower of yours on twitter, so when i saw your 31 day button at nesters, i had to swing by to see what you had to say. i sort of read it backwards, but it was just as good.
i’m trying to grasp this idea of being quiet. and restful. it’s seems so contrary to life i live here, in real life.
i am a 31 dayer, round 2, and enjoy the challenge, but also the things that spring from it. last year, i wrote about nurturing her self esteem, with my 13 year old in mind. this year, it’s a little harder, but i’m trying to write on nurturing {our} self esteem.
you’ve picked a great topic. i’ll be back.
thank you patty!
Reading down a few of the message
has brought a reminder to me of some
advice seasoned Mom’s often give
new Mom’s; “when the baby sleeps,
you need to sleep”. Nursing Mom’s
figure this out quickly for many
reasons, for her new born’s benefit
and her own! Also you don’t see
many babies nursing while in a stroller,
in a grocery cart, in the car seat,
the list goes on!When Mama is nursing
she must at least sit!! For baby’s good
AND hers!
When my boys were taking their
naps I tried to take a nap, too!
FINALLY, here is my main point:
I can not remember what I missed getting
accomplished during their/our nap time,
I DO REMEMBER many fun late
afternoons because we were all
restored by the naps! And the remander
the day went better!
NAPS ARE VITAL!!
yes they are! I agree =)
I recently just stumbled upon your blog from Lisa Leonard’s and have looked at it at least three times a day since Sunday. You are inspiring! You are courageous! And you are exactly what I need in my life right now. Rest is something that is very hard for me, and I love that you have dedicated your month to this. Finding time for myself and resting in that time is so hard, I can’t wait to use the amazing gift you have in my life!