The Importance of Rest
Have you ever been busy blazing a trail, flying through life at super-human pace, accomplishing all the things, then suddenly it's like God is waving red flags at you in warning everywhere you go...
You go to bed early, sleep well, and you still wake up tired.
You run yourself ragged all day, every day, yet you still can't seem to catch up. Your to-do list just keeps getting longer and longer.
You look at the calendar and find that you don't have a completely free weekend for months.
You don't have the time (or the energy) to play with your kids.
Your home and your life are chaos, and no amount of chipping away at it seems to bring it down to a manageable level.
Even the thought of making one phone call seems overwhelming and would take so much energy.
You look around at your to-do list and your messy house, and it paralyzes you. Instead of making progress, you just throw in the towel and say, "It won't matter anyway."
Your life has become unmanageable.
But you're a mom, a wife, a ministry leader, a student, a friend, an employee...you have dreams to chase. It seems like it's all important, and nothing can be cut out of your life right now.
So every day, you keep pushing through instead of heeding those warning signals that God has been sending you, trying to get you to rest.
Sound familiar?
This is a tough spot to be in, and it's where I find myself right now.
It's hard to say no and choose which things in your life are the most important and which you need to hit the pause button on.
But God. God doesn't want us to live this way. He wants us to rest. He lovingly makes us aware of the warning signs, but He won't force us to stop...to let go. However, eventually, He will allow us to feel the consequences of our own actions. Eventually, we will hit a wall. That wall might look like burnout, injury, illness, addiction, deep depression, a broken family, or a million other things. Some of us have been there already. Let's not go back. Some of us haven't yet. Don't go there.
Yes, it is hard to make tough choices. It is hard to say no. It is hard to disappoint others. It is hard to disappoint yourself.
Both paths are hard. Choose your hard.
When in doubt, always do it God's way. Spend some time alone with Him, and ask Him which things should stay in your life right now and which need to wait for another season.
There's a saying in AA that goes, "Easy does it." Let's take some advice from the recovery experts and slow down. A simpler life is a more manageable life. Let's give our unmanageable lives back to God and let Him handle it.
Let's do it together.
Meet the Author
Megan grew up in rural Wisconsin, where she was always known as the quiet girl with a book in her hands. Now Megan is working on her lifelong dream of becoming the author of her very own book. Out of her own struggle with trauma and mental health, she created the Jordan Crossings Blog to empower those who are healing from trauma and educate Christians on how to minister to those who are hurting.
