Taking Rest

— Midweek Meditations:
thoughts, inspiration and encouragement
from ACF community members —

Preparation for school and work vacation is sort of like Advent and the preparation for Christmas. At first many of you might wonder where I am coming from. What in the world does Christmas and vacation have to do with each other? One of mankind’s biggest dream is a restful and relaxing Christmas or Vacation. Both are scarce to come by.
On Christmas Day, for most of us our normal daily rhythm comes to an end. The amount of rest that is part of our Christmas season depends on the preparations we have done during the Advent time.
A few years back there was a Christmas film called “Christmas with the Kranks”. Mr. & Mrs. Krank’s daughter announces that she is not going to be home for Christmas and her parents decide to skip Christmas and take a cruise. The daughter announces on Christmas Eve she is coming and pandemonium breaks loose. A month’s worth of preparations from baking to decorating needs to be done in one day.
Vacations are similar and the decisions and preparations for this time sometimes begin months ahead of time. The last weeks of work and school are full of tests, writing papers and finishing up projects at work.

But something that is often missing on Christmas and during Vacations is Rest. By the time we get back to work and school we joke that we need a vacation after the vacation. We quickly exhaust ourselves filling our vacation days with events and entertainment so that we forget that the most important goal is rest and relaxation.
The three types of rest we need are physical, mental and spiritual. Without rest, we become someone we wouldn’t want to be close to. Our bodies suffer; our brains are less efficient and we struggle in our relationship to Go

But something that is often missing on Christmas and during Vacations is Rest. By the time we get back to work and school we joke that we need a vacation after the vacation. We quickly exhaust ourselves filling our vacation days with events and entertainment so that we forget that the most important goal is rest and relaxation.
The three types of rest we need are physical, mental and spiritual. Without rest, we become someone we wouldn’t want to be close to. Our bodies suffer; our brains are less efficient and we struggle in our relationship to God.
In the Bible we read that Jesus valued rest for his disciples and for himself. Rest was treasured in the Jewish religion and it is still available to us.

The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest for a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves.

Mark 16:30-32

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him

Matthew 5:1 5

Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the slave born in your household and the foreigner living among you may be refreshed.

Exodus 23:12

For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” … So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his.

Hebrews 4:4, 9,10

Often rests evades us on vacations and in our daily life because we don’t prepare for it. Rest never happens spontaneously. I know of no one who wakes up and suddenly has no obligations for that day. Unless we block time in our vacations and daily life for rest we won’t have it. I would encourage you that, as you start your vacations which might be spent at home this year, to schedule in times for rest, relaxation and regeneration. There are always things to do that are also necessary during vacation times. Especially if you have family.
Mothers sometimes have to be reminded the most to plan rest; they are the busiest multitaskers in the world. Jump in there and allow mothers to rest and, if it is possible, make it possible for mothers and fathers to have restful time together. Speaking from personal experience, that is one of the greatest gifts you can give. As a mother I often did chores when the children were out of the house; That was admittedly one of my biggest mistakes. I always thought I can finally catch up but the truth is we never do. When we complete one task the next one is waiting. It never stops.

We are the only ones who can schedule rest and relaxation into our lives.

Something to pray this week:
“You have made us for yourself, O Lord,
and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”
Saint Augustine