Ahhhhhh! Rest....Quiet....Time to put my feet up with a glass of iced tea. Yeah right you probably are saying!
But what if you stopped just 20 minutes a day, sat outside and listened to the birds? The scripture says, "if I care for the birds of the air, how much more will I care for you?" God calls us to times of quiet rest so he can minister to us.

Enjoying good food, time to journal, walking, sleeping, all do much more than we realize. Why can't we seem to slow down and take time to just do nothing?  Maybe it's because it makes us feel as if we are not worthy or producing anything?  Perhaps some of us may even be afraid to get quiet due to our own thoughts.  What will others think of our inactivity?

As a mother, I would feel a sense of guilt if I wasn't devoting myself 1000% to my kids or husband.  Sometimes our "life demands" force us into going 100 miles and hour. I get it. But it's not good for us all the time.

So how can we learn healthy patterns of engagement and disengagement? It is modeled for us by God himself. He made the world in 6 days and rested the seventh. Not because he was tired or spent, but because right from the beginning he wanted to teach us, it is GOOD to work hard then rest. To cease from our labor reminds us of much deeper spiritual truths than to just rest. It is also a picture of dependence. Of reliance upon the sovereign one. The discipline of intentional engagement and disengagement is a powerful life tool to pass onto our children and grandchildren. The pattern of working and resting, playing working, giving and receiving. Praying and listening to God.

I know it depends on what stage of life you are in at the moment. I am very much a type A doer type, and it is very unnatural for me to slow down. But I am learning the enormous value of this lost art. It has been transformational for me.
I wish someone would have shared with me a rhythm earlier on in my life that promoted a stronger sense of centering myself in the Lord and in his presence, beyond the traditional devotional times. The art of silence and solitude. I was too busy drinking from the fire hose of life to take time to s-l-o-w-d-o-w-n.
See www.carriagehouserest.com