Rest – It Takes Sacrifice

A while ago I attended one of my therapy sessions, simply exhausted, the appropriate subject of rest came up.  At that point in my life, I wasn’t getting much rest and really didn’t think about it much.  I just knew that I had to keep pushing.  People were counting on me.  I had goals to accomplish.  Things had to get done and I could rest later – or so I thought.

My therapist challenged me with a very simple exercise that would prove to be tremendously beneficial in the months to follow.  She challenged me to create an acronym for the word REST.  She suggested that I spend the next week in prayer about rest in an effort to remind me what rest should encompass, why I needed it, and how I should participate in it.  In praying the words for the acronym would be revealed.

In the following week, I remained in constant prayer about rest.  I had several encounters with people who unknowingly assisted me with my assignment – God used them to assist me in thinking about rest in a way I’d never done before.  Ways in which considering rest can assist us in our personal lives, but also in our professional lives.  If you are really interested in the other letters, we can have a conversation about them, but today, I just want to share the S…the S my nephew defined for me unknowingly.

I often have very intriguing conversations about faith with my nephew who is a college student on the other side of the country.  When he is home, we always find time to have a discussion or two.  While I should be the one imparting wisdom in him, I often walk away pondering a new way of thinking and am a bit more informed for having a conversation with him.  As he and I both look to grow in our faith continuously, we often have conversations around faith.  That week we were having one of our regular talks when he began speaking about rest being a sacrifice.

Sacrifice – Rest requires sacrifice.  I’d never thought of it that way.  But it was true for me and women like me, really for anyone.  Resting requires sacrifice. When I think about sacrifice, I am reminded it requires three things.  It requires prioritization, planning, and full participation like any other sacrifice.

Prioritization

When considering priorities, we think about what means the most to us, how it impacts our lives, and how it impacts the people around us to determine where it falls in the long list of choices we have with respect to our time and energy. The larger the impact the higher it goes on the list. We make sure we get the important things done and if the others have to wait, so be it. . If that means saving for it, learning more about it, or humbling ourselves to make it happen we do. Rest is no different. We MUST prioritize rest. It doesn’t just happen naturally. We have to make it a priority. 

Planning

Once we set our priorities we create plans to make them happen. We schedule PTO for priorities, we get up early for priorities, we stay up late for priorities, we set money aside for priorities, we buy outfits priorities, we meal prep for priorities, we do whatever we have to do to plan for something we deem a priority. Rest should be no different – it should be planned.

Full Participation

Once we make something a priority and plan it out, we go all in. We go hard for it. If you are reading this, chances are you are competitive by nature, which is why you are climbing that ladder. When you set your sites on something, nothing but God himself can stop you.  Rest should be the same way, it should have your full undivided attention and nothing should stop us.  

We simply have to prioritize real true rest. Not the brain still half racing type of rest we get at night after working twelve hours or the I’m so exhausted I just fell asleep on the couch for an hour type of rest. Neither of those are true rest. We have to sacrifice and prioritize true rest. Im talking about the turn the phone off for two hours and sit on a park bench type of rest, the leaving work in the middle of the day for a planned midday massage type of rest, the I’m staying home not answering (or even looking at) emails, texts, or phone calls for the weekend while I catch up on the shows I like kind of rest. The I’m going on a staycation alone kind of rest. The I’m going to take that weekly yoga class kind of rest. Rest that requires sacrifice. You’ll thank yourself for it.