Dear You,
It’s okay to rest. It’s even more than okay—it’s essential. Even when it’s the hardest choice you can make. I know you can feel as if there is so much to do, and a moment of quiet can feel like something wrongfully stolen. There’s so much depending on you. How can rest be anything but selfish?
Yet rest is exactly what enables you to love well for a lifetime. I struggled with this for years until a friend gently laid her hand on my heart and whispered, “If you never get refilled, how will you be able to pour out?” You are not infinite. You are human. You have limits. Acknowledging that is not selfish; it’s worship. Rest says to God and to our wild world, “I know I’m not in charge. And I trust the One who is.”
Rest comes in many different forms. It can be quick snooze on the couch or a full night of sleep. It can be reading, laughing, or playing. It can be an attitude of your heart that chooses not to strive and worry even when you’re in the middle of a busy season. In all of that, you can honor God.
God doesn’t need you to complete your to-do list. He created the world in seven days simply by speaking. He doesn’t have any trouble getting things accomplished—with or without us. But what he has chosen for you and only you to be able to do is this: to love him, those around you, and yourself. Part of loving well is resting well.
We can find ourselves going at a frantic pace and never stop to ask, “What is driving me?” Often it’s fear, and that is not what God has for us. Instead of being driven by fear, he invites us to be led by love.
So pause, take a deep breath or even a nap if you dare, and in doing so show the world that you serve One who is kind and loving to those who belong to him. Because he lets them rest. He invites them to peace. He takes their to-do list and trades it for a to-receive list that leads to joy.
You have permission to rest today.
XOXO
Holley Gerth
* inspired by Gen. 2:2; Isa. 40:11; Phil. 4:6–7 and adapted from If We Could Have Coffee… {ebook, on sale now for $1.99}
p.s. I’m supposed to be at the Winsome retreat right now and instead I’m home with a sinus infection and bronchitis {although I’ll still be there by exclusive video} so I’m living this message I wrote about rest months ago. Big thanks to Kim Hyland and Nasreen Fynewever for their grace, help and friendship this week. I’d love for you to stop by both their sites–you’ll love these ladies. I sure do.
