We Do Need Rest

I grabbed my favorite cozy blanket and laid down on my couch, thinking to myself, "I haven't done this in a long time". I couldn't help but smile as I allowed the sound of the television in the background to lull me to sleep. We had just watched 2 astronauts go into outer space and now I found myself saying a simple prayer to God asking him to allow my kids to let me rest. Of course my husband was in the house taking care of the kids, but as any mom can relate, the moment you lay down to take a nap, the kids will no sooner wake you up multiple times. This time, I was hoping for the best. A nap would be really nice, even for just 20 minutes.

I could hear my kids and husband in the distance during the moments I woke up a little and went back to my nap. After a few times of that, I was finally content and woke up with a great realization, "We do need rest". I thought about all of those days, weeks, years where I lived as though people don't really need to rest, especially one whole day a week. When I thought about all of the things I needed to get done around the house and life in general, getting those things done mostly always got bumped up on my priority list, right above rest.

But waking up from this nap really helped me to see one of the genius reasons behind God commanding his people to observe the Sabbath and not work. I remember thinking at one point that as a Christian, maybe the Bible was telling me that I needed to obey this commandment and if I didn't I was sinning. Then I heard that we as Christians are not under the law, and if we follow one law we must follow all of them, but that we can learn wisdom from them. The temptation to not set apart a whole day of rest is great, but there is wisdom behind God's law that is often overlooked.

My body needs rest. My emotions need rest. My mind needs rest. And most important of all, my soul needs rest. This life is not just about how much we get done. Rather, it is to be enjoyed, and that's hard to do when you are always tired. Throughout the week, we have busy schedules and responsibilities. However, we can look forward to one day out of the week of rest, where our bodies and souls can rest and we can carve extra time for God. After all, we are not just physical beings, we have souls that need to be taken care of as well. When we rest, we can rest both body and soul.