I changed my attitude yesterday about the rain and actually started thinking about how I never sit and "rest". I am the person that runs and runs and when I sit down I pass out! After an illness I did learn to listen to my body more and if I am tired I will eventually sit down. But I rarely feel tired. As my mother has always said, "we are high energy!"
After a busy weekend my visiting niece was not feeling well so she worked on homework and napped a lot. Mom came over and spent the day with us sitting around laughing at a tv show and napping. Mike stayed in the dog pound watching tv and napping. It was a lazy day. I usually do not like that and feel guilty doing nothing.
Matthew 11: 28-30 "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Psalm 23: 3 uses different words in the different translations. He restores my soul. He refreshes my soul. He gives me new strength.
Why is this so hard for me? This is not a good thing that I do not think I need rest. Remember what our Creator did on the seventh day of creation? Genesis 2: 2 tells us, "By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done." Even Jesus knew we needed rest. He told the disciples, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." Mark 6: 31
We need to give our bodies time to refuel. We need to allow our minds to be renewed. We need to let our emotions be restored and refreshed. It is only in Him that we find complete rest. Rest is not a guilty pleasure or an excuse for laziness. It is essential for us to be in service to God!
We need to think of rest as a graceful reminder that we can do all things alone. We need God. our energy gives out which makes us acknowledge that we are weak and that we need God. Matthew 11: 28, "Come to me...and I will give you rest."