What If Resting Is Worship?

  I’m busy!  I have a long list of things I try to accomplish every day, and then add quilting or other activities to my nights.  I don’t remember ever not being this way.  Even when my children were young, and we had the tv on, I’d find myself working on something whenever I sat down.  This has become my normal.

Because of the amount of quilts I’ve made along with my writing, people have asked me, ‘Do you ever sleep?’  And one of my son-in-law’s, just shakes his head, has commented more than once that ‘She never sits down’ or ‘She never stops!’ —which, of course, isn’t true, but I will say, that is hard for me.

RESTING IS HARD

Resting is hard for me.  And to make matters worse, when I do finally feel compelled to take a rare nap, it’s usually ten to fifteen minutes.  No alarm, I just wake up, feel refreshed and can keep going until bedtime!  But am I actually resting?

       I admit, I often feel ‘guilty’ when I stop.  Usually something will cross my mind that needs doing, and I’m up at it again!  I usually feel like I’m totally unproductive when I stop. And then there’s that scripture in Proverbs that talks about idle hands.  But I wonder, am I missing something?

CLIMBING THE CORPORATE LADDER

We live in a fast paced, achievement driven culture!  It’s all about working till you drop, climbing the almighty ladder, making the most of every day and especially earn as much money as possible, because wealth is power.

Truth is, I honestly don’t agree with that! I have no ladder to climb and earning a boat load of money is not my thing—I don’t want power!  I’d rather be a minimalist.  That said, I’m not an expert on minimalism, and I have to work really hard at that, but that’s my dream.  But that doesn’t seem to affect my ‘need’ to stay busy or go, go, go, get plenty done, because that’s what we’re supposed to do!  Right?? But... is it because subconsciously I feel my productivity measures my worth?

Often, I’m tired.  I’m tired of being tired.  My body seems to go alright, —at least until I hit the pillow at night—but my mind gets tired and maybe even my spirit.  Could my soul be tired too?  And sometimes as tired as I am, I can’t sleep. I drop off almost immediately, but after 10-15 minutes (like my rare nap times in the afternoon), I wake up and my mind, weary as it is, just doesn’t shut down.  It’s like it’s on overdrive going absolutely nowhere--yet it's all over the place.  There are no cut and dry answers to whatever I’m thinking about and that makes me even more tired!

COMMANDED TO REST

God commands us to rest.  It’s part of the 10 Commandments, twice! —- The first
time God gave Moses the Commandments, he said in Exodus 20:8 to remember the Sabbath.  The second time God gave Moses the 10 Commandments in Deuteronomy 5:12, he said to “observe the Sabbath....as I have commanded you.”    And when I look further in the NT, Jesus withdrew from the crowds and went to rest…with the Father.  As a follower of him, shouldn’t I ‘follow’ his example?  Even Hebrews 4:9-10 tells us the Sabbath is for rest.

COULD REST BE WORSHIP?

What if I looked at rest as worship?  Could it be that the absence of work is the presence of faith?  Might I be saying, when I continue to push forward and neglect to rest, ‘Lord, I don’t trust you to handle everything I need to do?’ (Is. 30:15)   Might that list that keeps nagging me be some deep seated desire that I need to be in control?  

Jesus invites us in Matthew 11:28 to come to him, all who are weary.  I’m weary.  Are you?  I don’t rest well.  Do you?  Is it time we changed perspective on the idea of rest?  

Biblically, rest is not being ‘lazy’ or ‘non-productive’.  In fact I would suggest that we would be very productive in our faith walk if we stopped… and spent time, in prayer, listening to Gospel music, reading His Word, enjoying his creation in a quiet walk outdoors, or just sitting on the porch swing, resting in His presence.  What a gift that would be!

Photo Credit: Resting In God 

Photo Credit: Unproductive