The sanctity of rest

Holly: Holy smokes, we're already halfway through January!!!

In the midst of basically going non-stop since this year has started, and also because I've had quite a bit of time to myself these past couple of days, I've been thinking quite a bit about rest.  Which I guess is exactly my point...Anyway.  We are a society that thrives on activity: we're going from one place to the next, we're juggling 221 different things at once, we've throw phrases such as "on the go"  and "I'm so busy" into our vocabulary without even thinking twice, and before we know it, it's time to get just enough hours of sleep in order to function, only to wake up and do it all over again.  Hey, I get it.  That used to be me...and to a degree, it definitely still is.  But one thing I've really striven to incorporate into my daily routine is quiet time, that time to just...rest.  I've really grown to appreciate that just in the past few months- back when I was working as a lab coordinator I would get emails and phone calls constantly, most of the time well after hours, and sometimes I felt as if I was shackled to my cell phone.  I couldn't really relax.  But now that I've really adopted the mindset of "leaving work at work" (mostly now because I actually can!!), I savor those precious moments of rest.  For me, I try to set aside a few minutes in the morning, usually while I'm waiting for the coffee to finish brewing: I typically read a verse from my Bible app.  I also incorporate about 10-20 minutes into the evening, as I'm ready to go to bed for the evening.  Again, I read something from the Bible (usually a whole chapter) and sometimes I write in my journal.  My cats are usually there with me, so even then it's not entirely...restful, so to speak.  But lately I've found that if I don't get those few minutes in the morning, I'm really edgy and frazzled when I get into work in the morning, even though I know what I have to do and it isn't terribly stressful.  

I guess the point to all of this is that taking time to rest is extremely important.  It's foolish to expect yourself to just go go go all the time!  So go ahead, read an extra chapter (or two) in that book.  Watch one more episode of that Netflix show you've been binging on.  Turn that alarm off (but please still go to work on time!).  Write, pray, whatever you need to do.  Heck...even God took a day off!  

Kelly: In the midst of writing this, I'm actually quite tired. This is my on-call weekend at work and I've worked 18 hours total this weekend...which actually isn't too bad compared to the last one I did. But it's been a long few days and I'm ready for it to be over. The constant driving to and from is what's killing me. Anyway, so rest sounds like a really good thing right now. My take on rest is different from what Holly described. Lately, I've had this itch of wanting to do "something more" with my time. I've juggled about a zillion and one different ideas of how to scratch this itch, mostly to the tune of finding another job. Not leaving mine, rather finding another job on top of what I already do. I kept telling myself "I want more experience" or "I just need a change," but I think what it is is that I'm just used to being this go go go type of person and when my time off comes I'm just like "why am I just sitting here? I need to be doing something else." And while I've ruled out finding another job, I haven't ruled out like volunteering or something to that nature...if I can just find the motivation. The thing of it is I just...enjoy my off time so much. And you know what? I am finally realizing that that's ok!

I think sometimes we get so stuck in this perpetual trap of having to fill our time with anything and everything because if we have down time then we're missing something. Yeah, I take some time out of my day to read a devotional, journal, pray silently (or out loud), but I enjoy my me time. My me time to read, watch something on Netflix, whatever. I understand that we have busy lives and all, trust me. We have busy lives. But don't forget that God doesn't want us all running around like chickens with our heads cut off. Take some time for YOU.