I need to take my own advice. This morning I read the words above from Finding Myself in Britain and reminded myself of the need for rest, worship, and play in contrast to work, work, work. I love the freelance life, but I can say “yes” to too many things, meaning that I have too many deadlines and the rhythms of life get out of whack. For instance, my daughter says, “No more writing books,” to me, as the family has borne the brunt of me writing, under pressure, the 2017 BRF Lent book (to be published this autumn). I enjoyed the process but haven’t spent enough time focusing on a healthy rhythm of life that includes rest, worship, and play.
What do you do to rest? A friend shared her mother’s adage that I’ve been pondering: “A change can bring about rest.” Just as we might need to break out of an exercise rut, with our bodies too accustomed to the same routine we do again and again, so our souls can receive an infusion of life when we embrace something new.
But the niggle I have with her mom’s phrase is that we’ll use it as an excuse not to embrace the meaning of rest, where we acknowledge that God is God and we are not and that we can switch off, slow down, not produce, and be still. For me, time on my own by a body of water brings about a deep sense of peace and rest as I hear the roar of the waves of the gentle lapping of the lake. Yet we can’t put all of our rest-eggs into a holiday basket, so we need to build into our lives regular, shorter, periods of rest. Oh – hey – how about a weekly Sabbath!?
How do you find rest?
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