Rest

Busy. So busy.

Exhaustion reigns. Wild excitement and uncontrollable grumpiness are separated by a hair, especially in kids.

Loneliness and tears and difficult memories intertwined with the gifts and caroling and feasting. Holidays can be hard. So hard.

In the middle of this, rest is so important. Sacred. Holy. Nonnegotiable.

And rest looks different for each of us. Maybe it's going to grammas’s house and getting a break from cooking. Maybe it's a vacation from work. Maybe it's long evenings at home, reading stories and watching favorite movies. Maybe it's saying no to social engagements and yet another Christmas party. Or maybe it's joyful participation.

For me, today, it's baking cookies, leisurely putting them in the oven throughout the day with lengthy pauses between batches and nobody cares. It's dozing for hours while bluegrass music radio plays on mindlessly. It's a lively group chat about the theology of suffering and the book of Job. It's journaling while the laundry spins in the washer and the entirety of Handel’s Messiah plays through a little speaker in my kitchen. It's leaving most appointments and paperwork for tomorrow. Drinking a huge mug of hot chocolate with fresh baked cookies. It's about doing all of the above with no more than a twinge of guilt because I know that our bodies and souls and minds need Sabbath rest and if Tuesday is the only day of the week when I can do it that works just fine.

Rest is key to health, too. People throughout history have attempted to figure out a way to work without a break, and inevitably their physical health suffers. (I was fascinated by a former ER doctor’s perspective on the imperative and promise of Sabbath, here.)

Rest is a declaration of trust. A declaration of belief that the world will keep on spinning without my frantic activity to keep it going. A declaration that God is smarter than I am, and His ways still are best.

Rest. How are you finding rest, in this season? Or in the next, perhaps?