Rest (Write 31 Days - Day 11)

Rest. Ironic, isn’t it, that this word comes on a Sunday – “the day of rest”? Sometimes this day is anything but restful! The rushing to get showered and dressed and get kids dressed, the rushing through breakfast and brushing teeth. Then time to put on shoes and somehow 1 shoe from each pair is missing!! Rush to search for a matching pair of shoes and finally head out the door, hoping we’ve remembered everything (including the baby)! Then it’s to church and rush to get kids settled in nursery and settled in the pew hoping for a few minutes rest before the service starts. The preaching is my favourite part – for many reason – but one reason is because we can just rest! We can sit back quietly (undisturbed if the children cooperate) and listen and rest! It really is a beautiful time. Because when the gospel is preached then that rest also becomes resting in the knowledge of Christ’s sacrifice for us!

Often the rest of the day, at least after we’ve had lunch, can become more restful. That is, until it’s time to leave for the evening service – then it’s a near repeat of the morning. J My rest comes in the evening. The quiet of the house and children settle to sleep. A cough here and there from girls still getting over colds. A whispered prayer for their safety through the night.  The evening is restful when I can sit down in my craft room listening to the quiet sounds of the house – Darran doing his thing, the girls sleeping. The 2 oldest are right above me and I hear when one rolls over to get more comfortable or the other one drops a book on the floor and then there’s that cough again. They are resting near peacefully and my heart can rest with them.

Sometimes I’m so weary. Not just physically tired but really weary: physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually – the whole shebang. Then I need a different kind of rest. I need to hide from the world, close the door on everything around me. I need quiet. I need something that will draw me close to God again – reading His word, prayer, and then something creative whether writing, painting, sewing. Something to let the weariness drain. That rest is the most wholesome rest I can imagine in this world.