Jesus and Rest

Fiery Gizzard Trail
South Cumberland State Recreation Area, TN

The word rest seems to be a buzzword in our house these days.  My husband's small group is really diving into the idea of rest in the context of being a disciple and there is such fruit coming from his involvement with that group that I am always excited to hear what they talked about each week, to have him share it with me and see how we can work on those things in our lives.  They are really onto something with this concept of rest.

If you think about human nature, and our culture in particular, work is an important part of who we are.  We can easily become defined by what we do, whether that is working outside the home, pursuing a career, raising our children and managing our households, volunteering, or all of the above.  We are constantly working, striving, doing - to the point that there is no balance or rhythm in our lives.

This drive to work is no accident, God's very first command to mankind once created was to, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground." Genesis 1:28  No pressure, right?  No wonder we have this need to do, to work, to accomplish something. 

What we forget is that immediately after God gave us our marching orders, He sat back, looked at what He had created, and, "rested from all His work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done." Genesis 2:2-3  He instituted a rhythm of work and rest from the very beginning.  If He took a moment after the creation of all that we know to rest and made a point to set aside the seventh day for us to recall that He rested, who are we to decide rest is unimportant?

I know, you are thinking...rest, what is that?  It isn't like I go to bed with a completed to-do list, a clean kitchen, laundry complete...the list goes on.  Who has time to rest?  I think God is asking us, who has time NOT to rest.  When we are constantly working harder and harder to juggle all of the balls we have in the air, we are slowly (or quickly) draining ourselves with no real opportunity to recharge, or rest.  There isn't spare time or money in most of our lives to rejuvenate with a massage, a trip to the spa, etc. on a regular basis.  However, if we don't find ways to lessen the draining impact of our work and revitalize our energy in some way, we are fighting a losing battle. 

All of this work makes us productive, right?  But, what if something arguably unproductive is what you need to bear the most fruit in a given situation.  Recently we were on a family trip to Atlanta.  Picture fourteen hours one-way in a minivan with three small children.  Not exactly my idea of restful.  We were on our way home at the end of a week-long trip and I was just ready to power through and get home.  Three hours into our fourteen hour drive my husband suggests we find a place to stop and let the kids stretch their legs.  I just wanted to get home, but after a bit of convincing on his part and no small amount of grumbling on mine, we took an exit that looked like it may have a nature area to stop and get out.  Twenty minutes later, down a 2-lane highway the opposite direction of home, we finally pull into a parking lot with bathrooms and a trailhead.  Again, this is accompanied by no small amount of complaining on my part, but my husband's gung-ho attitude will not be denied so we put Ella (our 2yo) in a backpack carrier, throw together a quick sack lunch for everyone, get our hiking shoes on and take off down a trail.  The next two hours resulted in one of the most amazing memories our family has made and gave us all a bit of rest, without accomplishing a single task (namely getting us 2+ hours closer to Kansas City).  The excursion was not productive, but it continues to bear fruit to this day (I am writing from another family trip and we are intentionally stopping at that same nature area on our way home to do a longer hike and our kids remembered and made sure we included it in our plans).

Fiery Gizzard Trail, TN

If we carve out time and resources to give ourselves rest, we can be more fruitful in our productivity as well because we are sharper, more focused, have had an opportunity to thoughtfully prune unessential things from our lives, and operate from a place of rest rather than perpetuating our frantic state of work.

One way to address this is to come up with a burn and replenish list.  Write down a list of things that burn your energy or wear you out.  These can be things that tax you emotionally, physically, spiritually, etc.  Also write a list of things that replenish you or give you rest, realizing that something doesn't have to be physically restful (like a nap) in order to give you rest or replenish your spirit.  My husband encouraged me to create these lists for myself in an effort to take a step back and see what I/we can do to give me more rest. 

Personally some of the things that burn my energy or spirit are the seemingly endless parade of dirty dishes through my kitchen, several days in a row with my husband traveling for work (leaving me to take on 100% of the parenting, homeschooling, household management, etc.), large group social events (or large groups of people in general), and several others.  Some things that replenish me or give me rest are time alone (whether I am doing anything productive or not), crafting/creating/cooking (for pleasure), nature (specifically mountains, trees, and water), time alone with my husband ("dates," even if that means running errands together, without kids), etc.

We are taking action in our lives based on these lists.  James is making an effort to pitch in on the dishes more often when he is home and he is thinking of ways to make things easier for me when he is out of town (like putting the garbage by the curb a day early so I don't have to remember as I am leaving - usually late - to drop our daughter off on my way to MT).  He surprised me with a rented cello and lessons for Christmas - something I have always wanted to do and feeds my artistic side.  We are setting aside money and vacation time for the family to go to the mountains regularly, whether it be camping or staying in a hotel, hiking or biking - just spending time together as a family in the great outdoors.

I encourage you to join me in this exercise - write out your burn and replenish list.  What burns your energy?  What gives you rest?