Come & Rest.

This morning, after I dropped the kids off at school, I was determined to have a productive day. I feel that it is important to note that today is the first day in 7 years (minus a few sick days) that I am home without at least one child in my care. I was excited to make the most of my day. I carefully outlined my to-do-list last evening full of the normal chores including cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, and cooking dinner. I also had plans to write a blog post, finish my paperwork for work, and do a continuing education online course. Writing these things down now makes me chuckle out loud. Who in there right mind places so many demands on themselves in one single day? Well, not even a full day, in 6 1/2 hours. I would venture to say that we all do.

We are so use to being told to do more. To be more productive at home and at work. More involved in our children’s schools and activities. More active in our churches and communities.  The list could go on and on forever. But it doesn’t end there. Once we are completely overwhelmed by our responsibilities, we compare ourselves to others and try to measure up to the unachievable standards that are now ever present in our society. I believe many of us work tirelessly because we mistakenly judging our self worth based on how well we measure up to the “perfect” lives, marriages, careers, and children we see on our Facebook news feeds, rather than through God’s grace.

I don’t know about you, but I fall into this trap far too often, and most of the time I am not even fully aware that it is happening. Thoughts run through my head such as, “I need to have the house cleaned-up, laundry done, etc. before my husband gets home, because I need to justify being home and not at work.” These demands are never placed on me by anyone other than myself. In fact, the only “demand” my husband made of me this morning was to, “make sure you do something for yourself today.” And yet, as soon as he walked out the door, the lies began to flood into my mind again and I set out to check those items off the to-do-list to make myself feel “worthy”.

After packing lunches and back packs, shuttling the kids off to their separate schools, and quickly eating my breakfast, I set off to get the laundry started and write my post. Except, I was SO tired. I don’t need to describe the feeling of being tired to you, I’m sure you are all far too familiar with the detrimental effects that come with fatigue. I sat and re-wrote paragraph after paragraph, unable to concentrate, and unsure what I was meant to write today. 

So, I did the only thing I knew to do in a moment like this. I stopped and prayed. I asked the Lord to lay on my heart what it was that He wanted me to share today. And do you know what he told me? He told me to rest. I was confused.  Did I hear him right? Not push through and write about one of the million topics in the bible that someone desperately needs to hear today and then finish the 100 other things that I felt I needed to do today, but to lay down and rest?

“Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”’ (Mark 6:31)

You see, Jesus himself realizes the need we have for rest. Upon returning from their missions Jesus didn’t instruct his disciples to continue to address the unending needs of those coming, He instructed them to go and rest. He realizes that we are unable to do God’s work effectively when we are worn out. Do we realize this? Do we realize that to do His work of being the best mother, friend, co-worker, spouse, and whatever else He calls you to be, that we don’t need to work tirelessly to achieve perfection? That rest is a good thing. Or, do we continue to compare ourselves to others and push ourselves to achieve an unattainable standard, exhausting ourselves in the process?

If you are one of those people who are good at incorporating enough rest into your days and getting enough sleep at night, I applaud you! Keep it up ladies! I am trying. However, if you find it hard to know when to quit or say no,  you stay up too late or push yourself too hard, and you are running on empty, I ask you to prayerfully consider Jesus’ words today. “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” 

May God bless each and every one of you, today and always, with the rest your body so desperately needs to effectively accomplish the work of God in your lives.