A Time to Rest: Five Blessings of Rest by Wendy L. Macdonald

 

I have no idea how this blog post is going to turn out. I’m writing the first draft of it while my body, soul, and mind are craving God’s rest during an upheaval in our family.

Maybe what I mine today will bring peace of mind to whoever happens to need it and read it.

I know I need it. A. Lot.

I’m not too worried though; I’ve been on this particular burden bus before. We’re to cast our troubles out the window and allow God to handle them.

“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. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 NIV 

When we’re burdened as walkers with Christ and writers of Light, the best thing we can do is to rest in Jesus. The more we work, the more we’ll hurt. And possibly hurt others. Overtaxed people can be taxing to be around (grumpy). Here’s a list I made up as I thought about the blessings of having time to rest. 

1. Rest restores and recharges our body.

2. Rest restores and renews our mind.

3. Rest restores and refills our soul

4. Rest restores and realigns our calling.

5. Rest restores and redirects our passion.

Now let’s delve into this list.

1. Rest restores and recharges our body when we remember we’re made of dust (after all, God remembers). We’re not just doers, we’re beings who get run down and depleted of hope when we’re overworked. Are we getting enough sleep? I know I’m not. I confess that right here. I’ve been trying to keep up with everything as if there isn’t a humungous burden weighing me down. (The clock stops here. Tomorrow morning when I’m tempted to skimp on sleep, I’m going to roll over and go back to dreamland. The world won’t stop if I can’t keep up my old pace. But I may stop ticking.)   

2. Rest restores and renews our minds when we resist the temptation to keep working when we’re on the verge of burnout. After I wrote about needing more sleep, I heeded my advice from the above paragraph and have been feeling much better after a week of more sleep. It has invigorated my mind for writing, reading, crafting, and gardening. New ideas for podcast episodes and blog posts are flowing into the creative side of my brain again. I hadn’t realized how dried up I was until I rested.

3. Rest restores and refills our souls by giving us the necessary energy and alertness to spend quality time in the Word of God. Before I felt rested, my writing vault was empty. Normally I have a few new articles written and waiting. They were often inspired by Scripture passages I read and pondered during my quiet times. Unfortunately, it ran dry because I was burning more and more of my batteries and neglecting to recharge them. We’re spiritual beings with a physicality that requires proper care. Tired bodies make for weary brains and depressed spirits. (I was going to bed later due to family obligations and then getting up at my usual early hour. Not wise.) It’s better to have more sleep than more hours of the day. Exhausted workers don’t do quality work. This is true for writers too. (I found out the hard way.)

4. Rest restores and realigns our calling because we become still enough to hear what God is calling us to do each day. The more tired I get, the worse my hearing is. Busyness is like buzzing bees in my mind that make it hard for me to decipher between what’s important and what’s unimportant. We need peace in our minds if we’re to mind God’s calling in our lives. The world is distracting at best and destructive at worst when it comes to obeying the Lord. Good things aren’t good if they’re preventing us from fulfilling the meaningful plans He has for us.

5.     Rest restores and redirects our passion. That can be taken in so many ways. Whichever way you look at it though, it’s true. Rest is good for our hobbies, our occupations, and our relationships. We can’t hear the whispers of longings to connect with God and others if we’re overwhelmed with work. Rest takes us aside and reminds us what makes us feel most alive. For me, being connected in a meaningful way to God, my husband, my family, and my closest friend make me come alive to fresh ideas for everything from writing articles to cooking new recipes. Being rested enables me to not just read books, but be challenged and changed by them. Lately, I’ve been reading about how important beauty is to our lives (and to God). Before I gave rest as a priority, I was too tired to use a real teacup for my tea, put flowers from my garden on the table, or reply to messages in a timely manner. Being rested yields hope, peace, and joy because we are better able to live beautifully. Longings are within reach when we’re not too tired to reach for them. I needed to trim some daytime activities to enable me to get more sleep, but new growth has resulted in areas that were more important than what I pruned out. Praise the Lord for rest.

I hope I’ve encouraged you to have guilt-free rest. Writing this blog post opened my eyes to my need for more rest through sleep. Now when I do have an occasional bout of insomnia, it won’t beat me up as bad since I’ll be well-rested. 

There is a time for everything,

    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

Ecclesiastes 3:1 NIV

Blessings of rest ~ Wendy Mac   

I'm nosy-to-know if you have any blessings of rest to add to this list?