Finding Joy in Discipline: The Unexpected Benefits of Prioritizing Rest
One summer I broke my foot and entered an unexpected season of extended rest (3 months!) Rarely does rest simply happen to us, but that time it did to me! I tried to carry on like nothing had happened for a while. You can guess how well that worked out!
When we stop fighting rest and create intentional space for it, we begin to crave the gifts it brings.
In The Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices that Transform Us, Adele Calhoun describes it so well: “Entering into rest depends on honoring our God-given limits. By paying attention to the physical, mental and spiritual needs of the body, we learn when and how to rest” (72).
Rest is actually a lifelong discipline which we engage by training ourselves to follow God in obedience. Ironically, in our modern frenetic days, we must prepare ourselves, our calendars, our very lives to deliberately carve out white space to regularly do nothing in particular except delight in and with God.
We care for our yeses with compassion.
We speak our nos with courage.
We ponder our patterns of work, devotion, family, and calling.
We prioritize our well-being in the name of humility.
We guard our souls against idols of perfection.
We let God guide us away from the fear of missing out.
We delight ourselves in beauty.
We savor the super-abundance of simple pleasures.
We let ourselves take a long lie down in the hands of God.
We rest, so we can rise.
