A couple of weeks ago I made a comment to my mom that I thought I should go to the doctor to find out why I was so tired all of the time. In the wisdom that only moms have, she commented, “you could be tired because you never rest.” With that in mind, I decided to keep a log of what I did each day and how often I was able to sit down and let my mind and body just rest. Today is the first day I have sat down in our living room in three weeks. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not working myself to death. Half of what I am doing is fun and includes time spent with friends, but it isn’t restful. It isn’t quiet time.
I by no means claim to be physically fit or know anything about physical training, but from what I have read or heard from people who take conditioning seriously, you have to cycle activities and one cycle includes rest. Your muscles need time to heal as part of the growing process and this takes rest. The same is true of our mental capacities.
It is true that during stressful times in our lives, we can be emotionally tired in a way that is equivalent to physical tiredness. I have come home at night exhausted even though I didn’t do any grueling work such as lifting boxes, swinging a hammer until my or climbing up and down a ladder. All I did was make decision after decision, answer e-mails with carefully worded responses, listening to colleagues with empathy and working to solve problems in a diplomatic way. I might as well have ran a marathon. It couldn’t have been any more exhausting – well maybe just a little, but I was wiped out from mental work. I first realized the effort that was involved in just emotional control after Jeff passed away. I would come home from work without a bit of energy left and all I had done that day was keep my emotions at bay for the day. Anyway, point is, we need times of emotional and mental rest just as much as we need times of physical rest.
This isn’t anything new or profound. It is just something I have to remind myself to do. There are times I actually schedule “do nothing” days. I put it on the calendar, announce it to my family and protect it like it is ordered by God. Oh wait, didn’t He order us to rest on the Sabbath? It was actually the 4th commandment (Exodus 20). Not only was this a time for rest, but a time to remember what God had done for Israel by delivering them from slavery. The law in Leviticus 25 takes this commandment one step further. Every seven years the Israelites were to give the land rest and not plant or prune. This was to remember the land belonged to God and if Israel would follow Him, He would provide and bless them. Following the commandment was an act of faith. To not plant, meant possibly to not eat.
This may not apply you, but sitting down and resting is hard for me to do. It is almost an act of faith. In order to take time to rest, I have to trust that it will be okay if everything on my “to do” list doesn’t get done tonight. Now my ability to feed my family isn’t at risk, but for those out there like me (please tell me I’m not alone) who cannot rest until everything is done, sitting down and taking it easy is hard. Back to the training schedule, I can only imagine it is hard to take a day off from training when preparing for a competition, but it is necessary or you will over do it and injure yourself. I am finding the same is true with mental rest.
This is like most of my blogs. It is more for me than anyone else. But I sit here looking at this log of activities and realize I have to take more time to rest, more time to read God’s word, and more time to just sit in His presence and remember how great He is.
View From My Shoes 
Ohhhhhh how I needed this message!! Thankyou so much for sharing your heart!
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