“I need a vacation!” We utter these words in frustration and fatigue. Yet after we get back from vacation we say, “I need a vacation from my vacation.”
Perhaps it isn’t a vacation we really need. Maybe what we need is to work rest into our natural rhythm of life.
And I already hear your excuses.
“But I am a mom and I have these crazy kids who keep me busy.”
“But I can’t rest or my house will be a wreck and I will never get the promotion.”
Our culture equates busy-ness with success. If we are not running around like a chicken with our heads cut off then we are lazy or adrift. Our children will miss out on opportunities.
But Jesus, His economy is different. He knows what we need and it isn’t always a vacation. It is rest.
‘The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves.’ Mark 6:30-32 (ESV)
Rest. What if we worked rest into the rhythms of our lives so well that we no longer begged for a vacation, but we counted on the rest we already scheduled?
What if we didn’t pack our traveling schedules so full that vacations themselves became havens of rest as well?
Rest to be quiet with time to pray, time to think, time to breathe.
And yes moms, even you can schedule it.
But first you have to stand up and say, “No.”
No to season after season of sport after sport.
No to doing the dishes while your little one naps.
No to always going and always doing.
Yes to a day to sleep in and spent in your PJ’s.
Yes to a weekend without plans to read, run, play games, or just sit in quiet.
What if we longed to cut our travels short, so we could get back to the beauty of our regular lives?
It isn’t too late to make rest an important part of your life. It isn’t too late to stop the swirling busy-ness that robs you of simple daily joys.
Will you join me in making rest a priorty?
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