REST

What does the act of rest look like to you? For some people, it’s sleeping until 11 am, like my children do on the weekends. I do not relate to this; I am an early riser by design. For others, it takes ten minutes to browse social media mindlessly to feel rested. For others, it’s spending time doing something they love, vacationing, or reading a book. I didn’t know I understood what it meant to take time and ensure I felt rested until this year.  

The Bearded One and I have experienced what many people call burnout because of the last year of our lives running at full speed. Around this time last year, we found my mother-in-law conscious but unresponsive, and sadly she died in May. It’s remarkable how quickly life can change on a dime. It was a gut-wrenching year. Anyone who has experienced the death of a parent and the stress of an estate knows that the burden can often be significant. Emotional, physical, social, and spiritual exhaustion results in fatigue, weight gain, beard loss, and overall emotional drain. It changed us in ways we can’t explain.  

Throw in a career change, health concerns, and way more travel than a family was prepared for, and it’s easy to see how a family is over-extended and burned out. As a Christian, I’m not immune to the demands of this life, and often I am my own demise because God designed me to be resilient. My mom usually refers to me as a phoenix who rises above the ashes. I have always appreciated that compliment, to the point that I have a rather large tattoo of a phoenix rising from a praying girl on my leg (check out my blog on that story). However, as much as I love that comparison, I genuinely believe my self-reliance caused my burnout. Instead of trusting God to accomplish His will, I’ve often taken all my decisions into my own hands. This error in NOT fully relying on God has caused unnecessary stress in my life, and I thank God for my husband recognizing that I often put more attention and care into my work than my care. I’m not saying that the answer was that I took a month off to take care of myself. Occasionally, I take time to care for myself above anything else.   

WORK

In this household, we work. We work hard and strive to be the best at whatever we do. Work is part of our responsibility and is part of our calling, meaning, and purpose. “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,” Colossians 3:23. We both work full-time jobs and have side hustles because we want to live an abundant life and leave a legacy for our children and grandchildren. 

Christians are expected to be self-sacrificial, at times, giving beyond ourselves. That is what the last year looked like for us. Yet we failed to rest. God demonstrated the importance of rest on the seventh day of creation. (Genesis 2:2-3). Nowhere in the Bible does God equate our acceptability or identity with our work. In other words, we are not supposed to live for our jobs, but we should REST after work. We fail to recognize how much God values us and understand His character. How do we rely on Jesus and actually rest? It meant learning to say “no” occasionally and praying to God before I said “yes.” It also meant being more intentional about self-care. This means getting back to doing something I love, blogging. It means proper exercise, sleep, and nutrition. It means taking time to laugh, engage in the things we love as a family. Seeing my children, dinner every week with our best friends, time to be alone, to read a book, and quality time with the Bearded One. Camping. I’m enjoying all those things God has made to be life-giving to me.  

Taking steps to rely on Jesus may have real consequences because you’re establishing boundaries that you’ve never set before in your past. Boundaries with employers, family members, and friends may not understand or like what you’ve put in place. The Bearded One and I have called 2023 the year of “MARCOLE.” No, not Meghan Markle. After spending an entire year taking care of everyone else, we intend to spend some time taking care of ourselves. We want to recover from our burnout by genuinely focusing on the life we intend to build together.  

I intend to recover from our burnout by following God’s direction. That means I consult Him about our schedules, take time to care for ourselves, and learn to depend on His strength to carry out our duties. Our identity is not drawn from the tasks we accomplish but from our relationship with Jesus and learning to trust that Jesus is the way. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6

The world is moving at a high rate of speed, and often times we get caught up in the pace. My encouragement to you is to find some rest. Need further encouragement? “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Psalms 23. Notice that it says, he MAKES me lie down in green pastures. God intends for us to rest, and sometimes, if we don’t rest on our own, he will MAKE us rest by putting us in a season of forced rest. Take some time to take care of yourself and REST after your work.

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