Rest

Today I awoke to sunshine. How grand! The last couple of days have been dreary with the rainy weather outside and two sickies inside. (This dreaded bug just will not give up!) But today there is light coming through the windows, which is perfect, since I'm finally feeling a little better. The light (and lack of fuzzy cold medicine) makes me see all the things I need to be doing, though, for which I have no energy: take down the Christmas decor, clean the house, organize the mail, complete the half-finished bird mobile, do the laundry...you get the picture.

Those things are just going to have to wait. Even though sitting around watching lame movies and sipping cough syrup the last five days is not how I wanted to ring in my new year, it has given me time to think about the importance of rest. Real rest. Rest that comes from a soul and heart at peace, not consumed by unimportant things. Rest that comes from dedicated time with the Lord. And yes, rest that comes from listening to what I physically need, which sometimes may simply be a day of nothing.

The irony is that the type of rest I long for actually requires energy. It takes practice to learn how to rest my soul; it takes discipline to spend time with the Lord each day; it takes prayer to recognize that "nothing" may be just as valuable as checking things off of a list.

I suppose that "rest" should be right up there with "exercise" in my New Year's resolutions. I just have a feeling that I won't be mastering any of my resolutions, let alone learning the spiritual and physical reality of rest, by 2012.