Why Moms Need to Rest

As we come to the conclusion of this session of the book club there is a thought that I feel is so appropriate to leave you with. Ultimately…….

We cannot own our life if we don’t first know how to rest.

Does the scenario below sound at all familiar to you??

You wake up in a frenzy. Your night of sleep was more like a few nights out at sea in choppy, turbulent water—hardly calm and hardly restful! Your feet hit the floor running, head spinning, and heart pounding with all you have to do, or at least, are supposed to do.

You are rushing to get your child ready for school, while desperately trying to figure out where you put the cleats for tonight’s soccer practice. Meanwhile, you scramble for any sort of edible item that you can call “breakfast” for yourself, while trying to figure out how you can make your toddler’s diaper last just one more hour until you can get to the grocery store to buy more. All this, while fielding important and relentless questions from your other children!

“Mom, do you know where my backpack is?”

“I can’t find my toothbrush!”

“I’m out of toothpaste!”

“Mom, can you braid my hair really quick?”

“I forgot to print my report last night. Can you print it for me before we leave?”                       

“Mom, can you paint my nails?”

That sounds all too familiar to me….and yes those questions are ones that come flying my way all the time. I still can’t figure out how many times I have to say “NO I cannot paint your nails” as we are walking out the door. “They will get ruined. It wouldn’t even work!”

There are so many days where I wish I could just push the “pause” button on my life – just long enough to catch my breath, reorganize my thoughts, and get back on task and just focus….. All of the rushing here and there gets exhausting, and…. when you look back at the different seasons of life and how rapidly they pass by you realize that time is short...really short. It is sobering.

Here’s the thing….in all of our rushing, I fear we are missing out big time. Missing out on the moments God intends for us to delight in and learn from.

In The Best Yes Lysa Terkeurst writes,

I asked the God of the universe to intersect my life with His revelation, then got up from my prayers and forgot to look. Forgot to seek Him. Forgot to keep my heart in tune with His voice and His invitation.  

All because of the chaotic rush of my day.

When all life feels like an urgent rush from one demand to another, we become forgetful. We forget simple things like where we put our car keys or that one crucial ingredient for dinner when we run into the grocery store. But even more disturbing, we forget God.

And I would add…..we forget our families.

So where do we begin to get a hold of our schedules and our time? How do we take a step toward walking more purposefully, more awake, and more alive? How do we learn to rest so that we can own our lives? 

We must start by seeing TIME as God does.

What does God’s word say about rest that is meant to restore us to a more balanced, rhythmic life in the midst of all of the busyness?

The Bible’s answer is the Sabbath.

Sidenote: {We do not live under the law of the O.T. In Jesus, the Sabbath isn’t so much about a day as it is about a principle. The principle is rest.}

In looking at the Sabbath, we find two things about the Sabbath and the principle of rest that are worth noting.

1. The Sabbath is HOLY.

Genesis 2:1-2

“Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”

So here God is saying that the day was HOLY because He rested! Have you ever thought of time in relation to being holy?!?!?!

When we rest we get a glimpse of heaven, the ultimate holy place and we are renewed. 

2. The Sabbath brings FREEDOM.

            Deuteronomy 5:15 says, “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.”

In the The Rest of God, Mark Buchanan makes this observation about rest and slavery in Israel’s history:

“To refuse Sabbath is in effect to spurn the gift of freedom. It is to resume willingly what we once cried out for God to deliver us from. It is choosing what we once shunned.

Slaves don’t rest. Slaves can’t rest. Slaves, by definition, have no freedom to rest. Rest, it turns out, is a condition of liberty…”

How many of you feel like a slave to your schedule, your work??? How many people do you know that just feel trapped???

This Sabbath connection in Deuteronomy was meant to be a reminder that there is freedom in rest. Working hard and being busy doesn’t have to mean slavery. There is a way to build boundaries into your life that FREE you!

This is difficult, especially for those of us living in a Western culture that esteems action. We quietly feel condemned or ashamed when doing nothing. Some of us are afraid to sit, relax, unwind, or do nothing for too long.

But this is the gift of Sabbath rhythms. The principle of not doing too much, too fast, and too often is one we desperately need to learn – especially as a mom, as couples and as families.

Building these rhythms into your life will take time and intentionality, but it will be so worth it.

Let’s talk in the comments and learn from one another.....

In what ways have you built rhythms into your life??? 

Blessings,

 

 

This post is a part of The Better Mom Book Club, where we are currently reading, Own Your Life by Sally Clarkson. We'd love to have you join us by clicking the image below and also in our private facebook group where we discuss what we are learning with the author, Better Mom writers and one another!