Choosing rest

Putting kids to bed.  It can be the most trying time of the entire day. Chasing them through hallways, trying to get them to sit still long enough to brush their teeth to a respectable level of clean, strapping a diaper on them, threatening them about if they take said diaper off, putting them in the bed, chasing them and again putting them back in the bed...... Some days you just toss them in their beds and count it a victory because they are still breathing.  Then there are those rare nights that we wish were more frequent then reality tells us is true.  Those nights where we lie all together in bed reading books, telling silly stories, and giggling.  When we just enjoy each others company.  When those nights happen you realize that that's how life is supposed to be.  But, if we know that reading books and enjoying each other is how its "supposed" to be, why does it seem to be so evasive?

I have come to the conclusion that good bedtimes with the kids are very similar to rest...quite evasive. Sleep, now that I can find.  I can go to bed and get my 6-8 hours of sleep a night but sleep and rest are two very different things.  Rest, like a good bed time with kids, requires effort.

As a missionary, I struggle with rest.  I have this irrational and unprovoked need to always be working.  I very rarely just sit down to enjoy TV, reading a book, or sewing (one of my favorite hobbies).  Don't get me wrong...I watch TV, but I'm almost always doing something while I watch/listen to it.  I am cooking, cleaning, preparing studies, folding laundry, something.  As a mom it seems to be a requirement to be a multi-tasker.  If you have more than one child you have to be able to multi-task because kids don't stand in line to wait their turn with their needs and wants.  It is a life of organized chaos at best.  Always on the go...earning my keep...or maybe keep up appearances??

Rest only truly comes when we set aside all distractions.  We walk away from our world of chaos to say, "Not now.  Now I rest."  It takes discipline and effort to rest.  It also takes self confidence.  Many scripture verses refer to rest.  Examples in scripture are given of even God himself resting on the 7th day after 6 days of creating the world.  God created us to need rest.  And there in lies the reason we struggle with rest so much...because Satan knows we need it.

Satan knows that if we do not rest our perspectives will twist, our thoughts will wander to the darkness, and our actions will not reflect our true desires.  We become lesser versions of ourselves and lesser value to the work of the kingdom.  In a nut shell, we become less of a threat to the work of Satan.

So, we must make a conscious effort to rest.  We must take time, be still, rejuvenate, and restore.  We must recognize that if God found it good to take a day of rest, that we are in no way superior to him and thus also in need of rest.

We must also recognize that rest can be part of our spiritual growth and not a break from it. By taking time to rest we can allow ourselves to hear God speak into our lives.  By resting and taking time for ourselves, we are not being selfish but instead valuing the life that God has blessed us with and showing God through our actions that we value his creation.

So this past week I rested.  I took time to sleep-in, to read, to plan out some sewing projects, and to spend time in the word.  And I chose not to feel guilty about it.  I encouraged my kids to do the same thing.  They made some dream lists up for their summer vacation, and spent time playing and enjoying each others company.  Bj has been out in his workshop making knives and whittling imaginative creations out of wood.  And we are better for it.

So if you, like myself, are a "doer" and thrive on crossing things off your to-do list let me encourage you to evaluate yourself.  When is the last time you took a day with no list?  When is the last time you didn't earn your keep but just were.  When was the last time you took time to lie on a bed full of stuffed animals to read books and giggle with your kiddos?  There will be time after books to chase the kids down the hall while trying to trap them into their diapers....