Rest

This morning I did the unthinkable....I slept in.  It wasn't intentional.  I was simply exhausted and slept until I woke. It felt great!

Usually I'm up before the sun to read, meet someone for coffee or write. But today I turned off all the alarms and just slept!  It was wonderful.

Someone recently said, "Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is sleep."  This morning I agree.  Now, with that admission is a measure of guilt as well.  I "could have accomplished something" this morning, but I slept instead.  

For many like me who have a bit of an "A" type personality the idea of wasted time is unthinkable, but sleep is never a waste.  It's how God made us.  We need rest to function.  In fact we will all spend at least a third of our lives asleep.  Seems like a waste, doesn't it?  But if we didn't the other 2/3 would be miserable.

As I thought about it this morning a few things came to mind,

Rest is part of another word we use often.  It's the core of the word restore.  Restoration is a renewal of something worn by age or time. To restore me to function with a bit of sleep is the best thing I can do for body, mind and soul.

Rest is a place of accomplishment.  It comes at the end a day of work.  Rest is the finish line for the day.  Rest is the reward for work well done.

Rest is a blessing.  All through the scripture it describes rest as a good thing.  It is true that it can be an escape for some, but for the most part rest is a reward for a day well lived.

Rest is unavoidable.  We must rest.  We are not able to go very long without some renewal, restoration, recovery from the work of a day.  Our bodies need it.  We need it.

Rest is also, ultimately, an acknowledgment that I am not God.  God doesn't need rest, but I do!  Rest for us is a sign there is a portion of the day when we must turn over control of everything to someone else...to the God who made us, the God who designed us to rest.

At night it's a great opportunity to say to God, "Ok, I'm going to go to sleep now. Your in charge while I rest.  I'll see you in the morning."  It might even remind you that he's in charge all the time...even when you're awake.  

Renewal, refreshing, restoration, reward, all words for what rest accomplishes.  Those are all good and needed things.

It's why God uses this word when he writes through David,

"Rest in the Lord...."  Psalms 37

It's in the Lord, as we rest in his care, that we find all we need for another day.