I’ve written about this before.. but this week I lived it.. again…
I’ve had many good, and even great things happening in my life. I’m a career woman, a mom, a newly published author, and I wear many other hats… See? Lots of good things. Except each of those good things have been pulling me in a different direction.
I had gotten to the point where I was on empty. But, because I am how I am, I still pushed, and continued going – until one day my body retaliated and said ‘no more’.
My brain wasn’t processing things the way it usually did. I was easily distracted and could not remember the task I was doing from one moment to the next. I was more easily irritated. And then just quiet. If you know me, me being quiet is not a good sign. And I had been quiet for quite some time.
The day my body said ‘no more’, I decided to do something I don’t often make the time to do. I stayed home, put the ‘do not disturb’ on the phone, didn’t alert anyone to the fact that I was home, and slept.
Rest.
Why is it that we find it so hard to rest before we get to the point of complete exhaustion?
We can be doing a lot of wonderful things, but if we don’t take the time to take care of our bodies, and our mental health, we won’t get very far.
I think of the biblical story that after Elijah rested, he was able to walk forty days to his next assignment. Sometimes when we are so tired, we lose focus on what God is and has done in our lives.
Ordinarily, I love rainbows. They remind me that God keeps His promises. The day before I rested, I saw a partial rainbow, and again the next day. Those two days, while I saw them, I was too exhausted to appreciate the significance. But once I rested, I was reminded of the beauty and the fact I had never seen rainbows like that and two days in a row!
Are you losing sight of the fact that you have so much to be joyful for in your life?
Maybe it’s time to press the reset button in your life, too.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for rest. Thank you for instituting a day of rest at the beginning of time. Father, help us to make good use of that time, and not feel like we need to accomplish everything in our strength, but to be able to completely trust and rest in you.