The Different Kinds of Necessary Rest

Rest.

Y’all, we know this is important. Just like exercise and eating right and having regular quiet times. Right? Yet, when our calendars start filling up, it’s always the first thing to go. We fill it with other things to get by… like eating too much chocolate, drinking copious amounts of coffee and binge watching Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix. But maybe that’s just me. Because obviously that is more important than rest.

I started out my summer with grand expectations of a slower pace, relaxing by the pool in my new aviator sunglasses and my Kindle brimming with books, enjoying being with my kids and kicking back.

Obviously I was viewing summer through some really rosy glasses. Reality set in quickly. I blinked and our summer vacation was three quarters of the way gone. What the what?!!

I’d been to the pool exactly zero times. Sigh. Instead, I’d been involved in a slew of activities including VBS and an Arts camp at our church. We’d taken a quick trip to visit my parents up north. And there was the constant shuffling kids off to camp and missions trips. They were all good things.

But here’s the truth. My summer has been the opposite of restful. It has been busy. I have been busy. And – let’s be honest – grumbling about the busyness. I have been running here and there, staying up late and binging on social media in the in-between spaces.

A few weeks ago, I felt like I needed to carve out a bit of rest for myself before we launched our next school year and all of our previously discarded routines settled back into our lives. Some people jump for joy about sending their kids back to school, but for a homeschooling family, back to school means regrouping and reestablishing routine and lots of time spent with a planner. Which is not my strong suit.

So when a last minute opportunity to go to the beach with a few other homeschooling momma friends landed in my lap, I said yes. One mom I had never met. Another I knew only in passing. The third is still a somewhat new friend. Now some of you would be all excited about this. Because beach! But y’all… this is not a dream vacation for an introvert. But the call of the beach overruled my introvert and I impulsively said yes.

There were no expectations other than to relax and have fun and get away from our “normal” which looked decidedly different for each one of the four of us. It made me realize that sometimes I take myself, and life in general, too seriously. It was a good choice. I’m glad I went. It was physically restful.

But do you know what? When I got home, I wanted to go curl up behind a locked door and take a break from all of the people because I was emotionally worn out from being “On” the whole weekend.

I had a few days to gather my wits before I headed off for another weekend away from home, a planning retreat with my MOPS group’s steering team. While I knew this would be work, sitting around a table, mapping out a whole year with all those amazing ladies, I knew it would be an opportunity to be restored in a way that I had not been all summer.

There were late night discussions full of laughter, but also many moments of sharing deep goals and hard thinking and vulnerability mixed in. The time spent in my “thinking cap” examining life, motives, personality and gifts, callings… those are the things that can charge an introvert up.

And so I’ve realized something about rest… resting the body and resting the soul can look so very different. And sometimes we can do both at once. But sometimes, we must find rest for our soul and rest for our mind and rest for our body in different ways or places.

Sometimes resting takes effort. It might mean walking past a sink piled high with dishes to take a 20 minute power nap. Or tackling that same sink filled with dirty dishes so that you know you will be able to face the morning routine without having to call on Sweet Little Baby Jesus to keep you from yelling at your kids and slamming cabinet doors.

And no, I’ve never done either of those things.

After 40 years, I think it’s safe to say that I have learned resting is a discipline, both a spiritual and physical one. Especially for moms. It doesn’t happen without a little work. But it is always worth the effort.

I’m Maria, the problem that will never be solved. I’m also a wife, homeschool mom, social coffee drinker, band nerd, graphics geek, thwarted perfectionist, crazy cat lady and lover of extravagant grace. You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.