Holy Rest

     I did not want to write today. Even sitting here, I would rather be curled up on the couch, watching a movie. But, my productivity has been pretty low lately and I do want to do something about it. So, here I am with a cup of tea (almost finished, sadly), determined to put something on the page. I know I put a lot of pressure on myself and give myself standards to measure up to but there will always be days like this when I would much rather do nothing. I'm going to talk about the doing nothing part today but I need to do something now. If I just sit and wallow, nothing will be accomplished. Nothing will have changed. Life hit pretty hard last week and I'm having to take things one day at a time as I navigate change, which I'm greatly apposed to, and I want to do my best to make the most out of these days. Life is made up of moments and I may not like all of them but I can be intentional about some of them. This is one of those moments. Writing has always brought calm and peace for me. I need words almost as much as I need air, I think. I need ink and paper, even if it's virtual. 

    This weekend, my parents made me listen to a podcast talking about Genesis 1. The first thing that comes to my mind when I think about that chapter is creation. My mum is really passionate about apologetics and so, growing up, all my science curriculum was written by creationists and we've had so many conversations and debates about things like dinosaurs, worldwide floods, and scripture. Genesis 1 is the foundation for that. What's interesting about the podcast though is that they focused on rest. Not the miracle of creation, where God creates plants before He creates the sun, rest. The podcaster didn't ignore that but his focus was more on the seventh day of creation. When you look at them it looks like creation happens over the first six days and then God takes a day off but they're called the seven days of creation. That means that rest was created. 

God is omnipotent. He doesn't need rest. Now, that doesn't mean that He can't, obviously He does in Genesis, but He doesn't need to. I don't think God gets tired or even weary. If He did, I don't know that He would be worth believing in. I'm not sure where I stand on predestination versus free will but I do believe that God is in control. If He needed a nap, I think things would spiral worse than they are right now. We know Jesus rested, deeply and frequently, but He did that when He was human. I doubt He sleeps now. So, why did God rest? He did it for us. The Jews called the seventh day the sabbath. It was a day designated for rest. In Exodus 20, we see it mentioned among the ten commandments. "You and your family are to remember the Sabbath Day; set it apart, and keep it holy. You have six days to do all you work, but the seventh day is to be different; it is the Sabbath of the Eternal your God. Keep it holy by not doing any work-not you, your sons, your daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, or any outsiders living among you. For the Eternal made the heavens above, the earth below, the seas and all the creatures in them in six days. Then, on the seventh day, He rested..." In Mark 2:27, Jesus says, "The Sabbath was made for the needs of human beings, not the other way around." God doesn't need rest but we do. Sabbath was created for us.

    Now, I feel like in this day and age, resting, especially taking a whole day of it, can seem like a bit of a foreign concept. I'm so aware of the time I have and a lot of it is free time. I feel like I don't need a day of rest, I don't know how to rest in the free time I have, what would I do with a whole day of it? But the longer I live, the more I see a need for it and not just in my life. Self care has blown up, especially in the past two years. The expression started in the 1950's and the act was prescribed to people with high stress jobs, such as health care and first responders. Now, it's a multi-billion dollar industry and seems almost like a trend. It's all over social media. I have often struggled with the term. I cannot ignore the necessity but it can seem selfish sometimes. It feels like an excuse to eat more chocolate than I should, to stay in bed past eight, or watch movies all afternoon instead of doing something as simple as tidying my room. And self care is bigger than that, I know. Some days it's making yourself clean your room or get some work done. These aren't necessarily bad things! I did have extra chocolate today and I did need to force myself to sit down and get some work done. But, the issue is when we start getting so focused on ourselves, our needs, and our emotions, that self care becomes selfishness. That's what rest looks like to me, and perhaps why I struggle to grasp the concept. I talk so often about living slowly and my desire to make the most of every day but I get caught up in the business. I open Instagram on my phone and the next thing I know, I've lost time that I can't get back. For someone who's generally pretty quiet and content to be home, I feel like I don't know how to be still. I want to engage my mind or my body in something and before I know it, the day has passed and I'm not rested and nothing has been done. This is the culture we live in. There's so much drive for productivity. Worth is determine by what we can do, not who we are. It's rush and not rest.

    Rest was created for us. We honor the Lord in it, as crazy as that seems. How am I honoring by doing nothing? But, if someone gives you a gift on your birthday, you open it. No matter how pretty or well done the wrapping is, you open it. Imagine how you would feel if you gave someone a gift and they put it on display or tucked it away somewhere, never bothering to see what was inside. I think you would be at least a little bit offended. There was money and thought and effort put into it, you got it with that person in mind. God created the sabbath for us as a gift. Choosing rest gives Him honor. He didn't rest because He needed it, He rested because He knew that we would need it. Our worth isn't determined by what we can do or produce. Work is important, yes, and there is merit to productivity, but our lives have more value than in our doing. I think that a lot of people don't want to believe in God because they think that we have to do something for Him. As a Christian, I want to be reading my bible frequently and praying more often. I worship God because I believe He's holy and worthy of my devotion. But, He doesn't need me to do those things. I wasn't created to be a slave to Him or my faith. In Genesis 1, God's intention for man was to dwell with us and us with Him. We had a garden where we didn't need to toil for food or worry about providing. Everything was already there for us. We were given everything we needed so that our time could be spent with our Creator. I don't know about you but I want to get back to that. I want to know God as if it was just the two of us in a garden, to walk in His presence and feel the fullness of His love. If that means resting, I suppose it's best that I learn how. I want to bring Him glory in the gifts I've been given.

    Slow down. Take a deep breath. I know that life can be rough sometimes, believe me, but that doesn't mean that God has stopped being good. Lamentations 3:22-23 says, "How enduring is God's loyal love; the Eternal has inexhaustible compassion. Here they are, every morning, new! Your faithfulness, God, is as broad as the day." It's okay to take things a day at a time, God promises mercy for that. But, good or bad, wherever your life is, don't forsake your rest. Don't ignore the gift we've been graciously given. I need this too because it's easy to forget. Our worth is determined by our identity in Christ, not our accomplishments. It's okay to take a break every once in a while, we're called to it. God loved us so much that He gave us an day where we could do nothing. He loves us still.

Yours truly.

Rey