When We Rest

“I am tired.” Do you say that a lot?  I do.

I have been tired for months now. Many people will say it’s because I have children, a house to run, a blog to write, and a work from home job to tend to. While all of those do take up my time and energy, they’re not the cause of my exhaustion.

The cause of my exhaustion is me.

Often, I will take “me” time and watch a tv show or two at night. However, I then find myself checking my work emails, texting friends, or playing a game on my phone. My brain is never resting. I recently was at my desk working and feeling so tired that I just wanted to lay my head down. I asked God nonchalantly, “Why am I so tired all the time?!” and immediately God responded with, “When was the last time you observed a day of Sabbath?”

The word shabbāth is hebrew for Sabbath. It means “a period of rest.” We see God take a day of rest on the seventh day of creation. The fourth commandment is to observe a day of rest. We even see Jesus resting one day a week. It is all throughout scripture.

I’m not going to lie, when I heard God ask me when I last observed a day of rest, I did think to myself, “Well, every Sunday, of course!” God quickly showed me how I was not truly resting and taking the day off. All the moments of checking my work email, making a work call, researching for future blog posts, reading other blogs to stay up to date, etc was filling up my day and I was not resting. I was not allowing myself to have a day of rest. James is home on the weekends and I was using him taking care of the kids as time to work.

How many of us are in the same boat? Life can get so busy and often times we fill up our calendars to the max. Next thing we know, we’re living in a constant state of exhaustion and can’t figure out why.

I have to make changes so that I can be productive and excellent in all that I do.

Observing a day of rest use to come easy. It was something I was so strict about. Fast forward a few years, add some kids, work, a house, and a never ending to do list- it slowly creeped up on me. Next thing I know, I am never resting.

It’s hard to just stop. Honestly. Once you get the momentum going it’s easier to keep going then to stop. However, if you keep going, eventually you will stop of exhaustion. Stopping and observing a day of rest is to protect us. To keep us healthy and whole. Our momentum will be long lasting with a few breaks in between. Not stopping equals burning out. And that is where I am at, I am burned out.

When we rest, it is more than just our bodies resting. It’s our mind, spirit and soul, that are resting. I truly believe that when we rest we will be the best spouse, parent, friend, employee etc. that we can be. We will get a lot more work done because we will be more relaxed. We will have more peace because we are not constantly in a state of urgency. We will have joy because we can actually feel the good around us.

Starting this weekend, I am resting. I am going to allow God to renew me so I can do His work better. Who wants to join me?