Rest

This one is short and sweet because I’m practicing what I preach.

R E S T

For the past few months now I’ve felt tired physically from the part time Sainsbury’s job I’ve started and emotionally in the aftermath of a whirlwind of a season.

I’ve heard my body whisper “rest” and ploughed on. So, this week I’m taking a breather from work and I’m beginning to pay attention to what my body needs.

It’s hard to listen to what our bodies are telling us. We almost have to give ourselves permission to rest. To just be. To not make anything or produce anything. To quieten our bodies so our souls have time to catch up. To shuffle our feet a little sometimes rather than race. We live in a world that values productivity highly and so in many ways rest is resistance, defiance even, to our fast paced, super productive Western culture.

Last week while I was out delivery driving, there was a morning I came in to start my shift. Normally the vans are all loaded with groceries and ready to hit the road. This morning my van hadn't even been shopped. Isn’t this so true of big business that the show must go on. Unknown to the customers the main manager was down in the store helping to shop and load the van that morning. That morning made me question the world that we live in. How convenience in many ways is amazing but at what cost? It made me long to live in a world that is slower. I’ve felt this for some time. A world where small is beautiful. A world where we can walk slowly and stop to admire a flower. A world where we spend time going to the local grocery store or fruit & veg market to buy what we need for the week. A world where things take the time that they take.

Elijah exhausted, resting under a Broom tree.

1 Kings 19 tells the story of an exhausted Elijah who by himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” ⁵ Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. [1 Kings 19: 4-5]

The story goes on to say that after he had fallen asleep an angel touched him. I’m not sure about you but lately I could do with some angels in my life. It was interesting to me that the angel came to him only after he had rested. It highlighted that rest is so important, for our physical, emotional & spiritual health. This passage mentions later in the story how God speaks to Elijah but not in a great and powerful wind and not in an earthquake, and not in a fire. God spoke to him in a gentle whisper. Without him slowing down and quietening his heart and mind and body I’m not sure Elijah would have heard the gentle whisper.

We need times where we too are lured into the wilderness. We need times where we are spoken to tenderly there. We need times where we are not owned by business, work, exercise, material things, relationships, our culture or society. We need times where stop long enough so we are able to hear the gentle whispers of God in our lives.

May you see this as permission, if you’ve been longing for rest.

I hope this speaks gently to you on your way.

Until the next time.