Conclusions and Summaries from our ponderings about rest:
It is helpful to know the areas of rest in order to identify where we may be lacking. But that still does not mean we will rest when, or as, we should.
What are the reasons you are neglecting to rest? Does taking a needed rest feel like giving up? Perhaps you have a very full life and some things are going to need to be pruned in order to make time for the rest you need. Maybe rest feels foreign and uncomfortable because it’s been so long since you’ve done it. It might be hard to set boundaries in place, particularly with other people, but is the cost worth that “polite yes?”
Rest is about being in a right relationship with God and walking with Him daily. God is the one who determines your capacity and His abilities far out-pace our own. The whole point is to keep rest sacred; not sacred to ourselves, but sacred to and with God. Rest is knowing that you’re enough, even if you have failed. Knowing that you can be vulnerable with God and that your worst day is still in His hands. Rest is acknowledging our limits, but believing in the limitlessness of our Savior. Rest is not holding onto the past or pain of yesterday, but living with arms wide open and trusting in God‘s provision.
Rest takes surrender because it is born of faith.
It allows us to stop our fighting for our own way and places the outcome aptly in God’s capable hands. Rest allow us to decrease, so that He may increase. The World says rest is weakness, and maybe you have believed that lie, even working continually to prove your worth. Maybe you thought resting meant you were going to miss out.
But, rest is also a commandment.
In nature, we see seasons of wintering, the God-given pattern and provision of dormancy just before spring. God has asked us to emulate this pattern. We are not meant to live in a state of perpetual motion and stress.
Resting is receiving.
It’s not often we stumble into obedience, we need intentionality. God is always granting us opportunities for rest. Will you sit with him? Ultimately, we all want more out of our day than just a clear ‘to do’ list or clean home. There is no way around the fact that life is lived in days and small moments. You cannot save up your rest for a later day. If you are to rest well you must take it incrementally or skip the whole thing in the moment.
So many of us are living with a, “I’ll rest when I’m dead,” mentality. This should not be. We are perpetually reactive, serving from a place of scarcity instead of abundance. Let God show you where your life is off-balance, protect what time you have with Him, and create margin and a space to ‘be’. You will be thankful you did. Your life will feel far more rich, and those around you will not only see but benefit from the difference.
Heed Matthew 6:33 when it says to, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you,” and wait for the blessing.
