Regular Rest: A Sign of Growth
This past week, my husband and I had the chance to travel to Virginia Beach to attend CCEF’s annual conference. For that reason, this post is going to be short!
This conference is a part of our annual rhythm of rest. You might think going to a conference—with its long days of learning and interactions—may be a strange way to rest, but it is, simply because it’s different than our regular routine. To seal in what we have learned, we tack on a couple days extra to debrief the conference and then plan for our family and the year to come.
We are good at planning our work, but how do you do planning your rest? God never intended for us to be like Him—functioning on minimal sleep, tackling multiple requests at once, helping everyone that calls. We are not limitless. Only He is.
Taking time to rest is one way that we tame our prideful hearts and humble ourselves. It is a way we acknowledge our limits and learn to work within them. It is how we grow in our trust and faith.
From the beginning, God instituted a rhythm of the day—evening and morning. On the seventh day, He rested. In creation, He has instituted seasons, which includes winter, often a season of hibernation for some creatures and dormancy for trees.
When Israel became a nation, He instituted more formal Sabbath regulations in the fourth of the Ten Commandments. He also set up annual festivals, a sabbath for the land every seven years, and the year of Jubilee every 50 years.
Though we no longer are under Old Testament law, we on this side of the cross can practice regular moments of rest as a reminder and a means to look forward to the eternal rest to come. It is a way we express humility, acknowledge our limits, and honor our physical bodies.
Rest is not a luxury but a necessity. It is a time to take a break from our work, refresh and rejuvenate. Then we can get back to our tasks to our fullest ability to glorify the Lord.
So all this to say that I purposely did not try to write a full blog post this week so I can enter fully into this opportunity to rest. I look forward to continuing our discussion in the next post!
