On the discipline of rest
This time Pat and I are sleeping in our bedroom and Gwilym is sleeping on the sofa-bed in the lounge. We're sleeping a lot. A LOT! Like last night bedtime was 9pm, and we got up at about 9am.
I can't remember the last time I spent 12 hours in bed. Not even when I'm ill. Perhaps when we used to go camping and we'd go to bed with the sun. But anyway, we are certainly catching up on sleep!
I once knew a student who didn't believe in the necessity of resting or of taking a break. "I'll get plenty of rest in eternity!" they'd say.
But I think they still slept even so.
Sleep forces us to rest. If we don't sleep we quickly go nuts. And sleep is quite a subversive act. It says that we accept that we are not the centre of the world. It says that we accept that the world can survive without us. It says that we can walk away and leave things, at least for some hours.
Sleep restores us in ways we still don't fully understand. We quickly learn to appreciate sleep and to prize it highly.
It's harder to lean to appreciate taking a break, taking time off to rest.
Sometimes, like the student, we get the idea that we don't need to do that. "I'm very tired, I need to lean in and rest in Jesus!" we say to ourselves and to the world.
Well, yes, you do, and you also need to trust in Jesus and take some time to rest. When you rest in Jesus you rest in the one who would go off to quiet places to get away from people for a while and rest.
To take a break and to rest is an act of faith. And determination.
It takes discipline.
I can't remember the last time I spent 12 hours in bed. Not even when I'm ill. Perhaps when we used to go camping and we'd go to bed with the sun. But anyway, we are certainly catching up on sleep!
I once knew a student who didn't believe in the necessity of resting or of taking a break. "I'll get plenty of rest in eternity!" they'd say.
But I think they still slept even so.
Sleep forces us to rest. If we don't sleep we quickly go nuts. And sleep is quite a subversive act. It says that we accept that we are not the centre of the world. It says that we accept that the world can survive without us. It says that we can walk away and leave things, at least for some hours.
Sleep restores us in ways we still don't fully understand. We quickly learn to appreciate sleep and to prize it highly.
It's harder to lean to appreciate taking a break, taking time off to rest.
Sometimes, like the student, we get the idea that we don't need to do that. "I'm very tired, I need to lean in and rest in Jesus!" we say to ourselves and to the world.
Well, yes, you do, and you also need to trust in Jesus and take some time to rest. When you rest in Jesus you rest in the one who would go off to quiet places to get away from people for a while and rest.
To take a break and to rest is an act of faith. And determination.
It takes discipline.
Comments