Skip to main content

Rest

             For the director of music. For Jeduthun. A psalm of David.

Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him. (Psalm 62:1)

          Have you ever found yourself unable to sleep? You may tell yourself that at least you’re resting as you toss and turn and your mind wanders, but in my experience, not sleeping means not truly resting. I may wake up the next morning feeling refreshed, but that’s not the same as being rested. While the definition of rest generally means “not doing,” resting is one of the hardest things I do, because it involves the automatic generation of “ghosts” – things that haunt me because I’m not getting them done. One of the restful things I did yesterday was mowing the back lawn, not because I enjoy the activity of following a noisy machine around and around the yard, but because now mowing it is off the agenda for at least a week.

          Real rest requires more than simply not doing. Perhaps more succinctly, it requires more than a physical cessation of activity. Psychology Today lists seven kinds of rest that we need: physical, mental, sensory, emotional, social, creative, and spiritual.[1] The time we spend asleep should address all of these, but when we can’t sleep, we tend to not get one or more of the other forms of rest.

          Another factor with rest is that it’s not just about not doing, but also about restoring some form of equilibrium. This is why, when I tried to require myself to “rest” on Sundays by not doing certain kinds of work, I ended up less rested than if I had done the work. I could not let go of enough different kinds of activities for the equilibrium to be achieved. One possible reason is that I didn’t trust God. Another is that I have made a god of activity (or certain activities). I couldn’t let go. And the answer isn’t just to let go, but to take hold of something else – of a true God.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Shepherd!

                 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep . (John 10:14) God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” (Genesis 3:14) The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths     for his name’s sake. Even though I walk     through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil,     for you are with me; your rod and your staff,     they comfort me. (Psalm 23:1-4) For the Jews, it was politically incorrect to make claims about yourself as a teacher (or possibly as anything else.) Teachers were expected to take pride in the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more