A Thought on Earning Rest.

You are deserving of rest. 

Right now. 

Where you are. 

Full to-do list and all. 

You don’t have to work for it. 

You don’t have to earn it. 

You are deserving of rest. 

The other day I stayed in bed until 11am. I woke up at 8:15 and I decided that I wanted to just stay in bed, so I did. Multiple times I had to resist the urge to jump out of bed and do something productive. I felt like I could be spending the time writing a blog or producing content or cleaning or planning for my work week. Who cares what exactly as long as I was doing SOMETHING and not just laying in bed.

But instead of listening to that voice, I did in fact stay in bed and I relaxed and I rested. It was beautiful, magical even. It started off as forced but the more that I resisted the urge to get up and “do” the more that I was able to just rest and be. At one point Patrick said “we’re so lazy,” normally I would have agreed with him. This time I surprised myself and I said “we’re not lazy, we are honoring our bodies and our minds and allowing ourselves to rest.” 

How often do you intentionally do nothing and just rest? How often do you resist the urge to act, to do, and instead just allow yourself to be?

Growing up we observed the sabbath. Which meant that every Friday night at sundown until Saturday at sundown we didn’t watch tv or do anything that could be considered work. We didn’t wash dishes or clean or do yard work, we went to church and we rested, that’s it. When we transitioned from being Pentecostal to non-denominational we left the tradition of observing the sabbath behind. I look back on that time and I now realize that holding space for rest isn’t denominational or even religious but rather intrinsically human. 

Humans need rest. We need it. It’s not something that we need to work for or prove that we deserve. It is not something that needs to be earned. It’s a part of the package deal. Rest is a concept that is grandfathered in. It’s not normal to work and work and work. The idea of the constant hustle isn’t sustainable. Rest is supposed to be a part of our regularly scheduled programming.

 Rest is ours to have. It is ours to cherish and the voice that tells you that you have to work for it is mistaken. You are deserving of rest. Right now. Where you are. Full to-do list and all. You don’t have to work for it. You don’t have to earn it. You are deserving of rest.