Before some of life’ s meltdowns taught me about rest, I would have told you that rest looked like getting eight hours of sleep and taking a nap when you need to. Hear me, there’ s nothing wrong with sleep— and it’ s actually an incredibly large part of rest— but it’ s not the entirety of rest.
Instead, there are different answers for different versions of exhaustion, and it’ s on us to identify what type of rest we need in our circumstances: mental, physical, or spiritual.
Mental Rest
Hang Up and Hang Out
My phone consistently adds a level of stress and anxiety to my life. My reliance on it for connectivity often bamboozles me into thinking that if I spend more time on my phone, I am in the know, invested in others, and furthering my relationships. Don’ t get me wrong— in some ways, this is true. In most ways, it’ s not.
The connection I value more than texts and social media is connecting with those in front of me. Devices have their time and place, and communicating with them deserves a piece of the puzzle— but how much? When we find the right balance, we’ ll be one step closer to true rest for our mind.
Find Closure for Your Stress
How often are we putting our brain on the fritz by trying to get out the door, sweat beading, slinging our bag into the passenger seat, and in one quick move, turning on the car, putting it in reverse, and backing down our driveway? Or we hit a few hiccups on the way to a work meeting, take the elevator, walk briskly down the hall, and pull the heavy door open to realize we never even caught our breath? That’ s a lot of hard work that we sign our mind up for to go from one stressful situation to the next without ever pausing for a moment, calming our mind down, taking a few deep breaths, and seeking“ closure for the stress” we just endured.
Let’ s take a moment to put a mental bookend at the end of the stress before stepping into the next part of our day. That gives us the margin to start fresh instead of stringing one long, tense moment to the next.
Physical Rest
A Nap and a Snack
In 1 Kings 19, we see Elijah, an A-list prophet, get to the end of himself and ask the Lord to take his life( verse 4). In the next verse, he lies down and goes to sleep. Then an angel wakes him up, provides a snack, and tells him to eat. Elijah eats, then goes back to sleep.
It’ s not rocket science. Sometimes we just need to take a nap and eat a snack. How generous that God created us to operate best and see the best when we’ re rested and fed. I wonder if we keep ourselves from seeing a life that’ s lovely when we’ re not nourishing our body well to do the incredible things it’ s been
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