The Rhythm of Rest

I was a band and choir nerd in high school. Well, truth be told my school was so small that nearly everyone was in one or the other. I, being a person struck with the malady of overachieving, was in both.

On top of those activities I took piano lessons. Music is a great love of mine and though I no longer play or sing regularly the technical end of things remains embedded in my brain. Technique hammered into my head by a metronome clicking away the tempo atop my Wurlitzer.

If you aren’t musical then you might not pick up on this, but if you are then you realize what a difference a rest makes in the flow of a song. The absence of sound at a given moment of a choral number or orchestral piece can be what makes a song great.

Rest isn’t meant to take anything away from our lives. Rest is meant to offer something to us that gives a flow and cadence to the whole of life. If we neglect to pause and fill every waking moment with the noise of busyness we will lose the melody and ruin the song.

Enough with the music metaphor…God didn’t use metaphor to teach us about rest. Well, at least not in the beginning. Because “In the beginning…” is exactly where He first teaches us about our need for rest.

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because o it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. 
Genesis 2:1-2

When we think about taking a Sabbath it can easily be lumped in with the other nine commandments. “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy” can become another good-girl rule to follow.

It isn’t the law that sets us free. It’s grace.

A few years ago we started making naps a Sunday ritual. A typical Sunday in my home is as follows; Church, lunch, naps for everyone. And I’ll be honest and say that if church wasn’t held on Sunday I wouldn’t go because I love to let Sunday be a lazy day of rest. It has become a life-giving rhythm that I do my best to keep sacred. 

The Hebrew word for “rest” in the Old Testament is “nuwach” (noo’-akh) and literally means to settle down and to remain quiet. In the Old Testament the Israelites would complete all their tasks by sundown before the Sabbath so that they could minimize how much they moved and worked the next day.

They took the practice and observance of the Sabbath seriously.

There is no way of knowing if they fully grasped the importance of the practice or if it was simply obeying a command. I do find it helpful to leave the house reasonably clean on Saturday night so that Sunday I am not tempted to do busywork around the house. It will still be there on Monday! I also try and keep it simple. Frozen food, soup in the crockpot, sandwiches, etc…are a typical Sunday menu.

When God gave us His own example of rest in Genesis it wasn’t because He had drained Himself from so much creating.
 
No, He knew fully our finiteness and He also knew that we would be tempted to create and create and do and do until our reserves were depleted and we burnt out. Again and again in Scripture we find His invitation to retreat to the care of His rest (Psalm 23, Matthew 6) but I’ll be honest that if I don’t carve out committed time I will keep creating until I’ve exhausted myself.

One of my favorite times of the week is when I wake up from my weekly Sunday nap before the rest of my clan. I usually grab a book, a cup of tea and a pad of paper. I scribble thoughts, ideas, and goals down to silence the inner voice and I just absorb the quiet. Most importantly I listen for God’s whispers to me. I’m amazed at how often He speaks when I hush everything else to listen. 

I’m not perfect at this Sabbath taking. Some weeks we’ve traveled to visit family or on an adventure only to find ourselves on a long car ride back on Sunday. Other times we decide to have lunch with friends which runs late and throws our afternoon off. I recognize that a typical Sunday Sabbath might not be in the cards for your family life. Some of us work or have husbands who are required to work weekends. Don’t let that keep you from setting aside some portion of your week to observe a personal Sabbath. Like I said, there is grace in all things.

What I believe it comes down to is our hearts pull. Are you pulled to rest? Do you recognize your need for it? Do you take active steps to make it a regular habit or do you say, “Well, if I have time this week I will take a nap, read a book or find some quiet time.” Taking a Sabbath is about flipping that thought process on it’s head to make rest a central part of our week’s rhythms.

I’m begging you to take one day a week to hush the noise of the world. Turn off your phone. Stay at home. Do whatever you have to do to protect that time and I believe you will be blessed and renewed.

{How has taking a Sabbath revolutionized your life? Do you feel the pressure of busyness on Sundays or whenever you try and take a Sabbath? What are some practical steps you can take to manage those pressures?}

Revolutionary Rest

Rest is work.
 
That is the last thing any woman wants to hear in a series about how to integrate more focused rest into our lives as moms. Because the last thing any of us need is more work. The reality is in order to arrive at a place of rest in my day to day life I have to work hard to make a life that leads me in the direction of rest.

Rest is not something that naturally happens in my life. Left to my own devices I will pile more and more onto my plate until I simply can’t go any further under the weight of it all.

I will keep telling myself in the midst of writing my to-do list that I can’t let go of anything. Between the things I want to do, have to do and just plain do I start feeling suffocated. If I am truly honest I take my to-do list and I make myself believe it is a have-to-do list. Sister, you are not the sum of the things you marked off your list today.

You are more. You are meant for so much more.

As I’ve journeyed into the art of learning to intentionally rest and find rhythms for my life, family and work that give instead of take, I’ve discovered a few core things to meet that end.

There is one keyword to keep in mind. Intentionality.
 
I am beyond imperfect at the practice of intentional rest. In fact, I’m imperfect at everything I do, but guess what? I’m loved by God. The perfect One who calls me away from my to-do list and into life in Him. The One who knows me by name and calls me away from it all to lean back into Him like a swaying hammock and be held. That’s a nice mental image, isn’t it?

But we don’t get to just lay in a hammock all day. No, there are things to do and the dishes don’t wash themselves. Intention. The purpose with which you intend to do something. If we don’t find ways to move our lives toward that restful place with God we won’t ever make it there. 

I want one thing clearly understood. Rest isn’t just making time to read a book or watch t.v. or even sleep. Rest is the deliberate slowing down of the noise in our brains and lives so that we can hear from God. 



There is a competition for our attention between the pull of busyness and the noise of everything we believe we have to do. Want to be counter-cultural? Stop “doing” things. Stop committing to more and more. Limit your children’s extracurricular activities. Don’t sign up for one more bake sale, book club, Bible Study, small group, or volunteer opportunity.

I’m not suggesting the commitments I listed above are bad. What I am suggesting is we often fill our schedules to the brim and continue to wonder why we feel physically, spiritually and emotionally empty. Gluttony is more than eating too much. 

I’ve realized it is easier to complain about our marriages, children, and lack of time than to actually tackle those areas with intention. Why is that? I think, for me, it is because I don’t want to do the work those things require so instead I tack on another task thinking somehow I will accomplish more. Less isn’t more. More is more, right?

WRONG.

A few weeks ago I did something that downright revolutionized my life. It is so simple to do and I recommend it to everyone, especially the busy mamas out there.

Grab a sheet of paper and a pen. Write down your priorities for this season of your life. Your priorities can be as general or as specific as you want them to be. My list has about ten things on it and range from a passionate pursuit of Christ to focused attention on improving my writing. Feel free to read my whole list.

After you’ve written down your priorities. Make a list of the things that take up your time. Once that is done line the two lists up beside each other and mark through each thing on the list of things that take up your time that don’t help you meet your priorities for this season of life.

It might be painful. You may find there are things on your current list needing to go which you truly love. This doesn’t mean you give up something you love forever. It does mean you possibly give up something you love in order to cultivate something that you love more. 

The next step is to regularly ask yourself if the things you are doing line up with your list of priorities? That small act will encourage you to avoid adding things that don’t help you create a life that keeps you refreshed and leaning on Jesus.

I am sure someone is reading this and thinks that I am oversimplifying it all. There are definitely times when we have to do things that we don’t want to do for a certain purpose or over-arching reason. There is always grace, but I would ask you to be as honest with yourself as possible about what you can cut out of your life in order to make room for rest. Every little bit will free up some space to rest.

I’ve been at this intentional rest thing for a few weeks now and I can already sense a freeing of my spirit. It has caused me to recognize how much I was making decisions out of fear that I wouldn’t get things done.

One thing that has emerged from my self-reflection is that I’ve discovered that I was already cutting things out of my life, namely, joy. Yes, I’m beginning to think we are always pruning something away from our lives even in busyness. The unfortunate thing about this realizations is I am nearly certain I was pruning joy away from my life.

I know “intentionality” is a buzzword these days. It’s a buzzword I am okay with if it means I get more of the life I love. If being intentional leads me to a more God-soaked marriage and work that overflows from my life instead of sucking it dry then I am all about it.

Jesus, has never been anything less than intentional with me. His pursuit of me from the Cross to the grave and straight on into eternity is with purpose. I want to pursue life in Him and this one life I am gifted with the same intentionality.

{Take some time today to prayerfully make a list of priorities and compare it to the plates you are spinning these days. Does it match up? What can you cut out? What areas can you refine to fill you up instead of drain you?}

(in)motherhood ladies, if you missed the first two posts go back and give them a read!
Rest for Your Souls
GET OVER IT! {Mama-Guilt that is}  (Over at Heidi's place!)

Rest For Your Souls

I spent at least a year of my life in that horrible in between sleep and awake state. My sweet girl was a terrible sleeper, despite my best efforts, and I lived on that edge between sleep deprivation and barely holding it all together.

My brain started to short circuit and most adult conversations involved me pretending to listen while I blankly stared at the other person. 

I was exhausted. That kind of exhausted where you leave your coffee on the hood of your car and forget to strap your infant into the carseat...not that I've EVER done that.

Eventually we made it through the sleep-barren desert of infanthood and my little girl began to sleep more than three hours at a stretch. Sleep is glorious. Uninterrupted sleep is the stuff of fairy tales and happily ever afters. Forget Prince Charming because he'll only keep you awake {snort}.

Are you with me mamas?

If there is anything I learned during that first sleepless year with my daughter is that rest is necessary. During that season of my life it was sleep that I was deprived of, but what I recognized I needed more than sleep is rest.

Rest isn't only sleep. Sleep is a part but it is truly so much more. Rest is stillness. Rest is clearing our schedules of the should do's and creating space to breathe full breaths that clear the mind and cleanse the soul.

Rest is intentional focusing our mind on quiet so that we can focus on what matters, hear Jesus speak to us without the whirring noise of our to-dos buzzing in our ear.

Rest is Biblical. Rest is necessary.

Rest is complicated for us mamas, but it is so worth the struggle to find it.

It's 1:00 in the afternoon and I wrestle my toddler into her bed for naptime. Naptime. The time of the day when all mamas do a collective sigh. What follows that sigh for me is usually a frustrated look around my less than immaculate house or at my burgeoning to-do list.

My to-do list taunts me from the kitchen counter. 

Some days I am able to mark through each line and tackle the scribbled list into submission. Other days {confession time} I cower under the dining room table and mindlessly poke around facebook until I hear my daughter waking from her nap. On occasion exhaustion takes over and I squeak in a twenty minute power nap.

What I am saying is that I waste a lot of time, but often still feel exhausted, spiritually malnourished and behind the curve on everything. Can you relate?

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:28

I've heard that passage of Scripture hundreds of times. As a mama I am tempted to give the Word of God a big eye roll when it comes to rest. Yeah, I get it. Jesus will give me rest. But has He seen my to-do list?

The answer is "Yes." He has seen my to-do list and He's still beckoning me to come away with Him and find rest. He believes it to be possible and I should too.

He says "rest for your souls." in that passage. Not just sleep mama-friends. Not just a couple hour break from the kiddos. It sounds to me like He is offering a calm breeze and a hammock for our spirits to rest and be held in. I need that. I need as much of that as I can get. 

Sometimes I am the one that makes it impossible. I fill my to-do list with the noise of busyness until I can't hear the voice of my Savior. Rest is about quieting the static of life so that we can hear the voice of God gentle and kind, often much kinder than we are to ourselves as women.

We're going to journey together for the next six weeks and I hope you'll allow God to quiet your soul and draw you close so that you can experience the real, true rest of Jesus.

Q:What gets in the way of rest for you?