Why is it so hard for us to rest? Vacations are fewer and when we do have them we are constantly busy. We are busy with visiting friends and family, or seeing the sight and sounds. How many of us just slow down and actually rest. Sundays used to be a day of rest for me. I remember when I lived with my parents and we would come home from church and actually take naps. Sundays were about three things God, family and rest. I remember not napping, but I did read peacefully in my room all afternoon. Now we cram everything that we did not get done in the other six days of the week into this one day. Some of us work on Sunday. Some of us shop on Sunday. The list goes on and on. We have forgotten to rest.
Stress is the result of not resting. When I rest, even if it is for a few moments, I feel myself relax. So if we are not taking time to rest how can we ever relax? We try to relax by listening to relaxation music in our cars, however with traffic and directions distracting us we are not fully relaxed. We try massages. They help relax your muscles, but they clutter up your schedule creating added stress due to an overwhelming schedule. We try to find ways to reduce stress, but few of us have taken the time to just rest.
God gave me the chance to have a rest for this last week, but instead of allowing myself to relax I was running all over the place. I did however take yesterday to rest and it really helped. It helped a lot.
When God created the world, God rested on the seventh day. I do not believe God needed to rest. I believe he was trying to teach us how to live. He was teaching us how important it is to just rest and be close to Him. He only asks for one day a week. Does it have to be Sundays? No, but it should be one day a week that you actually rest and just take time to spend with God and family. I believe this paradigm could change our lives. We might find we are less stressed and can handle the difficulties in our lives that much better. I know that for me being able to take a step back and relax has enabled me to look forward to our next season no matter how difficult it may be.
I hope that we all start making rest a priority again and bring sanity back into our lives.
Stress is the result of not resting. When I rest, even if it is for a few moments, I feel myself relax. So if we are not taking time to rest how can we ever relax? We try to relax by listening to relaxation music in our cars, however with traffic and directions distracting us we are not fully relaxed. We try massages. They help relax your muscles, but they clutter up your schedule creating added stress due to an overwhelming schedule. We try to find ways to reduce stress, but few of us have taken the time to just rest.
God gave me the chance to have a rest for this last week, but instead of allowing myself to relax I was running all over the place. I did however take yesterday to rest and it really helped. It helped a lot.
When God created the world, God rested on the seventh day. I do not believe God needed to rest. I believe he was trying to teach us how to live. He was teaching us how important it is to just rest and be close to Him. He only asks for one day a week. Does it have to be Sundays? No, but it should be one day a week that you actually rest and just take time to spend with God and family. I believe this paradigm could change our lives. We might find we are less stressed and can handle the difficulties in our lives that much better. I know that for me being able to take a step back and relax has enabled me to look forward to our next season no matter how difficult it may be.
I hope that we all start making rest a priority again and bring sanity back into our lives.