Just like many of you, I have ignored the signs and signals of my need for rest. I ploughed through sleep deprivation by drinking coffee and eating sugar to buzz my way through my to do list. I believed the cultural lie that I have to do everything in my power to be on top. “To be on top” is defined differently for each of us. It is working 80 hour weeks so that other company doesn’t get our customers’ business. It is taking all the overtime because it is crucial to make partner. It is throwing the most enviable birthday party for your 5 year old so that every other mother knows you care or that you are just that talented. It is cleaning your house even in the wee hours of the morning even though your kids wake up at dawn because surely every other mom’s house is not this gross. We push ourselves to make impossible standards that were never ours to keep. We have a much lighter yoke than the one we’ve placed around our own fragile necks. We may pause to remember Who we are really here to please, but those memories are fleeting as our adrenaline rises to meet the next challenge of the day. And believe me, I know there are challenges around every corner. I rode that race for all it was worth. I pushed myself not realizing I had limits. Turns out I have them and when I got sick, I was forced to rest. In this forced repose, I became aware of how weary our culture is. All the commercials and talk shows and women’s facebook groups were all working to ease fatigue but without resting. Resting is essential. It is important that we all learn how to do it. I realized how much peace there is in letting go of the impossible standard. I also embraced the race towards rest. True rest. Not the kind of rest you get after a harried vacation but deep rest of mind, body, and spirit. I know this is a very counter-cultural message of a world that yells in your face that there is no time for breaks. But brother and sister, we are told by a softer voice to make time. Sabbath is not for sissies. Sabbath rest is for the brave and the weary. It is putting aside the work to pick up the truth. We are not masters of our own fate, ultimately. We are in the hands of a God who watches our way. Trust Him and find rest.
About me:
I am a half-Lebanese wife of over a decade to a 1/8th Swede man. I am mother to three blond, blue-eyed boys that I homeschool. I am also a licensed therapist with a masters in marriage and family therapy since 2004 serving in private practice. I have been walking with Jesus as my Lord for about 20 years and actively attend a PCA church in Mississippi though I am born and raised in South Louisiana. I’m a little granola, a little rock n’ roll, and a little neurotic. I am writing for those of you, like me, who need to remember to rest. I am writing to a working woman and the stay at home mom. I am writing to the exhausted men and women out there who fall into bed yet can’t sleep. There is hope for your weariness. I am drawing on all kinds of knowledge to encourage a wholistic experience of rest, such as medical research, personal experiences, tried and true 2000 year old herbal remedies, and Scriptural wisdom.
You can also find me on instagram @leanedforrepose.