Learning to Really Rest

 Do you know how to rest?

Really rest?

I'm not talking about sleeping each night.

I'm not talking about your time off work or school.

Rest can, and often does, include those things, but in and of themselves they're incomplete rest. They're not the important things that refresh us and restore us.

I've been learning a lot about this recently. It's easy to not be at work, but still be thinking about work, planning things for work, checking emails and chat messages on my phone. Or to be planning the next evening for the Bible study I lead - what we're going to study, the details of each night. Or to be looking after family stuff that isn't always as urgent as it seems. Or to just be busy cleaning, laundry, errands.

None of those things are bad, wrong, unnecessary. They're part of life and important parts of life.

But, if they're all we ever do, we'll quickly find ourselves in trouble.

It may all look good on the outside. We get things done at work. We lead or serve at church well. Our family knows we'll be there whenever they need us or just ask us to do something for them. Our house is always very clean and organized.

But, we come home and collapse on the couch. Too tired to do anything but numb ourselves with binge watching a favourite show or scrolling social media before we crawl in bed to try to get some sleep. Morning comes and we do it all over again. Hoping for the day where we won't feel so exhausted and overwhelmed - the day when we'll do the things we used to do that brought us joy.

If we can actually get to the point where we admit it's not working, we can learn what real rest is. We can learn a different way to live. But, it means we have to be intentional about it.

This is where I found myself almost six months ago. I took my vacations from work, but all the notifications still showed up on my phone each day. I took the scheduled breaks between Bible studies I was leading at church, but I spent all that time putting together the perfect plan for each upcoming night we would meet - even though I knew most nights would likely not go exactly according to my detailed plan. I'd decide to take some time to do something I wanted to do, and a family member would phone or text with a request, and I'd drop everything to help them out immediately - even if it could have waited. My house always had to look perfect, even thought I was the only one who was going to see it.

And I thought I was resting regularly. Except coming home from work or whatever else I felt I needed to do and zoning out in front of the TV for a few hours wasn't really rest. But, it was all I could do with the way I was living.

I knew something had to change, but I had no idea how to make that happen on my own. I needed help to figure it out. I still need help figuring it out some days. I needed someone to help me see how I could make those changes.

And I sought that out. I found that help and began to make those changes. And I began to learn what real rest looks like.

It includes sleep. It includes time off work. It includes what I called rest before. But, it's so much more than that. It's meant boundaries around my time. It's meant intentionally scheduling time to do the things I enjoy and protecting it.

I can't tell you exactly what it should look like for you. We're all different. And what's restful to me, might not be to you.

But, I know for me, it meant setting quiet hours on my work apps on my phone so the notifications only appear when I'm supposed to be working, and turning them off completely when I'm on vacation. It means leaving my phone behind on purpose, or turning it off when I'm out for a walk or coffee with a friend (have you ever thought about how much our phones interrupt us when we're with other people?). It's meant learning to only drop everything for emergencies with family and making plans for another time when they phone with non-emergencies.

More importantly, it's means doing things I enjoy more often. Sitting in a coffee shop with a good book. Going for a walk with a friend. Playing a game with my niece (and usually losing to her). Reading that book that's been sitting unread for too long. Getting together with friends for games, food, conversation. Regularly phoning a friend just to talk about the last week for both of us. 

Really, it's been rediscovering what brings joy. What makes me smile. What energizes me.

That's been what learning to really rest has been about for me.

And as I watch people in my life and people around me, I wonder how many more of us need to learn how to really rest. How to make space in life for what really is important.

So, how about you? Do you know how to really rest?

When you look at your calendar, is it just filled with things you feel like you have to do? Or are there things on it that refresh you, restore you, leave you feeling energized?

How can you make sure you have these in your life consistently?

How can you learn to really rest?

Learning to Rest

When was the last time you rested?

I'm not talking so much about when you to bed each night. I'm talking about rest from the busy-ness of life. I'm talking about intentionally created space in your calendar to rest.

Rest is the first of the rhythms for life Rebekah Lyons talks about in her (soon to be released) book Rhythms of Renewal. While the entire book was full of good stuff, this section was the most challenging for me.

As much as I know is my head how important rest is, I don't often do a good job of living this out. Even as I read through the chapters in this section, full of practical suggestions that seem easy on paper, I knew how much I struggle with this one.

As I started reading the beginning of this section on  rest, I knew it was something I need to learn and practice more of in my life. And Rebekah's words reminded me of why it's important:

"Rest precedes blessing. We don't have to run to earn rest; we run fueled by a posture of rest."

Our fuel for all we do comes from rest. Rest has to come first.

One of the things Rebekah talks about in this section is the idea of Sabbath. It's really easy to write Sabbath off as an Old Testament practice that we don't need anymore. But, I think we miss out on something when we do that.

Yes, Sabbath was part of God's Law with Israel in the Old Testament, but it wasn't limited to that. We actually see the first example of Sabbath in the creation story in Genesis 1. After creating for six days, God rested on the seventh day. God did include Sabbath in His covenant with Israel, but it appears to me that Sabbath goes beyond that too.

So, why do we need Sabbath today?

I appreciated the words Rebekah wrote on it:

"Your value as a human being isn't found in what you produce; it's found in who you are in Christ - a person designed in the image of God to glorify him forever. From the beginning, God designed his creation to be more abundant, fulfilled, and joyful when we work from a place of rest and renewal."

When we create space for Sabbath, we're able to live from this. And it changes everything.

"When we intentionally Sabbath - stop striving so much - we create space for healing, wholeness, and refreshment. It's a truth built into the design of things."

Without this space, we miss out on much. And we don't do well at allowing God to work in us. We have to prove our worth by what we do.

"Our worth is found in the God who loves us, who created rest for our good."

So, if it's for our good, why do we avoid it?

Sometimes it's because we've bought the lies of our culture that we can't rest and that our worth comes from what we do. Sometimes it's because we're afraid of what we might realize if we stop. Sometimes it's because we're not sure how to stop.

But, as I reflected on it for myself, I realized another reason. Sometimes we see it as a legalistic practice we want to avoid.

Growing up, there was a family across the street that spent a lot of time with because the kids were same ages as my sisters and I. We had a lot of fun together and the rules for what was allowed and not allowed were very much the same. The noticeable differences in our families came on Saturdays. That was the one day of the week we didn't spend much, if any, time with them.

The family was Seventh-Day Adventist and Saturdays were a Sabbath for them. Growing up, all my childhood brain saw was a long list of things my friends weren't allowed to do that day - no jumping on the trampoline, no riding bikes, no street hockey or basketball, no TV or movies, no card games, and only certain board games were okay.

For a long time, that my association with Sabbath. It was just a list of things not allowed that made the day really boring. So, when people talked about our need for Sabbath, I resisted it. My understanding of what Sabbath actually is had to be changed.

What comes to mind when you think of Sabbath?

Are there ways it needs to change?

When is the last time you had a Sabbath in your life?

What would it look like for you to have Sabbath in your life?

What Should Sabbath Look Like?

How do you live Sabbath in a busy, always-on world?

A few weeks ago, I wrote about being challenged with the idea of Sabbath. (You can read that post here.) Since I wrote that post, I've been wrestling with what it looks like for me to really make it a part of my life.

How do I live Sabbath in a busy world?
How do I live Sabbath in our always connected world?
How do I live Sabbath without it just becoming a day full of legalistic rules of what I can and cannot do?

I don't think it's something where we can tell each other what it should look like. When we try to tell someone else exactly how it should look, we're in great danger of wandering into legalism. It's okay if the details of what a Sabbath looks like are different from each other.

What matters is where our heart is at. It's the attitude that makes it a Sabbath or not. We have to start there when we look at creating a Sabbath in our lives.

The more I've wrestled with this in my own life, the more I've come to appreciate the way my pastor described some guiding thoughts for a Sabbath:

Pray & Play

Two words that don't tell you exactly what you can and cannot do, but capture what a Sabbath should be.

Pray: This is about our relationship with God. Time to talk to God and to listen to what He's saying to us.

Play: Fun. Activities we enjoy. A break from some of our usual responsibilities.

What falls into each of these categories will look different for each of us. What is play to one person, may be work to another. What spending time in conversation looks like for another may not work for someone else.

As I've been walking on this journey, I've realized that sometimes it's a bit of trial and error to figure it out. Some things will be what you need for a Sabbath and some won't. I think that learning what it is for you is a key part of it because it takes us to a deeper relationship with God. As we're figuring it out, we're pursuing God.

I believe God is issuing an invitation to all of us to engage in this journey of relearning how to have a Sabbath. Of learning how to make regular days for us to pray and play again.

For me, it's been about learning to disconnect from normal responsibilities with work and ministry - not because they're not important, but because I'm better able to engage there fully when I have regular breaks from them. About learning, again, how to "waste time" - doing something just because I enjoy it, not because it's accomplishing anything. About realizing that the vegging out in front of the TV I used to call my break really isn't as refreshing as I thought it was (doesn't mean I don't still do that sometimes, it just means I have a different mindset about why I'm doing it).

What about for you?

How are you learning to live Sabbath in a busy world?
How are you learning to live Sabbath in our always connected world?
How are you learning to live Sabbath without it becoming a day full of legalistic rules of what you can and cannot do?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this subject. Leave them in the comments below.

Intentional

Birds chirping.
Squirrels chattering.
Wind rustling the trees all around.

No cell phones.
No computers.
No electricity.

Just a quiet space, away from all the noise of every day life.

Sometimes it takes purposely getting away from it all for things to actually go quiet.

Games.
Hiking.
Kayaking.
Campfires.
Time with friends.

A pace of life I believe God created us for, but a pace we seem to struggle to live at in our everyday life.

It seems like so often when I go away, I'm reminded of the importance of time away, and then I go right back to my noisy life, always running from one thing to the next, when I get home without changing anything. I catch a glimpse of what it could be and then do nothing to change it.

The more I think about it, the more I realize I do the same thing in lots of areas . . . my time with God, my relationships with others, eating better, exercise . . . almost anything could be added to the list. None of these are things that we are going to change without some intentional planning on my part. I have to decide to make the change and then do something about it.

We all have to make that same choice when there's something we want to change in our lives. We have to make a plan and be intentional about making it happen.

Is there an area of your life you want to change?
What is the first step you can take to make that change?

The Missing Piece in our Discussions about Sabbath

In the last few years, I've noticed an increase in the amount of time we spend talking about Sabbath, about our need to regular times of rest in our lives. In a world that never seems to shut off, this has been a refreshing conversation to hear and engage in. It's been encouraging to see people become intentional about beginning to practice it again.

But, as we've done so, I think we've missed a vital part of what Sabbath was intended to be when God designed it for us. I know I missed it for a long time, and didn't even realize I was missing it.

I think this piece we've is the reason why our efforts at creating Sabbath in our lives have fallen short of what we hoped they would bring. I don't think it's because we don't need Sabbath, but because we haven't really understood the fullness of it.

We first see the concept of Sabbath-rest in the story of creation in Genesis when God rested from the work of creation on the seventh day. God intended it to be a day where no work was done, a day of resting from the busy-ness of life. That's the part of it we're getting right in our current discussions of it.

Leviticus 23:2-3 outlines God's plans for Sabbath:

"There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a day of Sabbath rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the Lord."

Did you catch the phrase in the middle of the commands about not doing any work and resting?

". . . a day of sacred assembly . . ."

Part of God's plan for Sabbath was for his people to gather together. It wasn't just about resting from work; it was also about gathering together with like-minded people - about community.

Even with all the religious aspect of keeping Sabbath the Jews added that weren't in God's original plan, they still had this part right. They gathered together on the Sabbath.

As I study Sabbath in Scripture and compare it to much of the conversation I'm hearing and participating in about it today, I'm more convinced than ever that we're missing a vital piece. And that missing piece is the reason why our efforts at Sabbath fail completely after a short while, or don't seem to bring all that Scripture talks about.

Along with rest, our Sabbath has to include gathering in community with people, with other Christians. Time together to build relationship, to study Scripture, to pray, to enjoy one another's company. I believe that if we began to include this, our experience of Sabbath will change, and our desire for it will grow.

Rest

Running

Constantly running

From one place to the next

No time to pause

No chance to catch your breath

Will I ever get to rest?

Hurrying

Always on to the next

Never stopping to really see

The people you are passing

Blind to need, to pain

Will I ever get to rest?

Busy-ness

A calendar too full

No space to breath

No times for those you love

No time for laughter

Will I ever get to rest?

Slowing down

Making space to stop

Slowing down

Creating time to breath

Slowing down

Taking time to see

Listening

To people all around

Hearing

What they're really saying

Loving

Walking alongside

Resting

Escaping from the busy-ness

Resting

Something we really need

Resting

A beautiful gift from God

Time for Rest

Alone

Silence

Stillness

Usually I try 

To avoid them

I don't want to know

The thoughts

Swirling in my head

People

Noise

Busy-ness

My companions

I don't hear

The voices in my head

I'm not listening

To the things that challenge me

Alone

Silence

Stillness

There's beauty

In these things

Necessity

Without them

I don't function well

People

Noise

Busy-ness

Eventually destroy

Leave me wanting

Looking for more

If I survive

On them alone

Escape

Sometimes an escape from what we call normal life becomes necessary. My blog went quiet for a week because that's exactly what I needed. An escape from what is my normal life to something different.

Time for some camping with friends. Some people asked me if camping with friends and their kids would really be break. I told them yes before and even after I would still say it was. Even crazy wind, rain, and thunderstorms, on the same day we had scorching heat didn't stop the time away from being an escape.

I've been reflecting on what made this an escape from normal life in the few days since I'v been back. The conclusion I've come to is the absence of technology and the inability to do anything about the list of all the things I needed to do at home. My escape was a break from the things that can tire me out without me even realizing it. The laptop left at home. The cell phone mostly off - checked only a couple times a day. And I was too far away for the list to matter. That's what made it an escape.

Sometimes we get so caught up in the busy-ness and demands of life that we lose sight of our need to get away. But, we were created to nee time away from the demands of life, because even the good things can drain us over time.

Jesus modelled this and taught it to His disciples. After feeding the five thousand, Jesus sent His disciples away from the crowds and then spent time alone by Himself. "Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He dismissed the crowd. After He has dismissed them, He went up on a mountainside by Himself to pray." (Matthew 14:22-23).

After a time of busy ministry Jesus took a break and He made sure His disciples took one too. He escaped for a while before He stepped back into the demands of His ministry and life. This wasn't a one time thing for Him either. (See also Mark 1:35 and 6:31-32.)

If Jesus needed to escape to a solitary place sometimes and taught His disciples the importance of doing so, then how much more do we need to do the same?

There's no clear prescription for what this time should look like - just that we need to do it. It's not about what it looks like, doing a specific thing. It's about taking time away.

For me these times of escape have had many different looks. Camping. A retreat. A walk or hike. A couple hours of just ignoring my phone and email. It's not so much the format of it, but the practice of it that matters.

When was the last time you escaped the demands of life to be refreshed?

Are you in need of another time?

What do you need to do to plan or schedule your next time of escape?

Our Need for a Place & a Way to Refresh

Coffee grinders buzz as beans are ground to make the next drink. Metal spoons bang against cups of steamed milk poured out to make the next drink. The scent of fresh ground coffee fills the air. Murmurs of conversations around me. Moments of silence where the music is heard clearly after being drowned out by other noise before.

Some people call this place my office. Some call it my second home. Some are so used to seeing me there, they wonder when I'm not.

Coffee shops have easily become a favourite space for me.

A place for conversation with a friend.

A place to read a book.

A place to write.

A place to hear from God.

People walking by my table. Some in a hurry - grabbing a cup of coffee for the rush to the next place. Some take their time - lingering with a friend or a good book. Those who know exactly what they want and those still undecided.

Hot or cold? Tea? Just coffee? Or a special drink? Any food with it?

I watch the people coming in as I sit and sip my latte. Such diversity of people coming in. I wonder why they come.

Why do you choose a busy coffee shop over the quiet of your house? It's a question I'm asked regularly. It's a logical one. My house is as quiet or as loud as I choose for it to be. It seems a good place to think or wrote or read or pray.

But it's also filled with distractions . . . the dishwasher that needs emptying, the floor that needs vacuuming, the laundry that needs doing, the computer or TV vying for my time. For me, sometimes I just need to leave those things behind. Other times I can put them aside and remain at my home.

The truth is, I think we all have places we like to go or things we like to do to escape the demands of everyday life. We need those place and activities. They renew and refresh us, so we have the energy and perspective fro the daily demands of life. As long as our escapes are realistic in time and don't cause harm to us or others, they are beneficial to our lives, even necessary.

For me, that escape is often to a coffee shop to read or write or pray for a couple hours. For others, it might be a hike or a run or a bubble-bath at home. We all need these times if we're going to live the life we've been given to live by God. We weren't created to go nonstop without a break or time to refresh.

Where is that place for you? What is the activity you do to refresh?

Learn to Stop Running so we Can Listen

"I really need to take a break and get away."

"I'd just like a few moments of quiet, but I don't know if I can find it."

"I know it's important to take time to get quiet and listen to God, but I just don't know how to fit it into my day."

"I can't put my phone away for any amount of time. What if someone needs an immediate response form me?"

How often have you said those things? Or though them?

I've noticed that we like to talk about our need for rest from the daily demands of life. We can articulate the reasons why we need it. We can point to Scripture that says we should do it.

But our practice of it doesn't seem to line up with our talk. We don't do well at practicing what we talk about. I don't do well at practicing what I talk about sometimes.

I've been challenged in this area of my walk with God this summer (as many of my recent posts indicate). And as I've learned how to step into this more, I've realized just how much we miss when it's not a regular part of our lives.

It's only when we stop running and silence the noise of our lives that we can hear from God. In the midst of our fast-paced, noisy culture, doing so is difficult. We're conditioned to expect an instant response and to try to do multiple things at once. Putting off the response to that text or email until later and doing only one thing at a time takes practice for us to learn how to do it well.

The danger comes in never learning to do it well or even to do it at all. We try and it feels too hard, so we quit trying. Or, we try it and the interruptions keep coming, whether other people or our own thoughts, so we give up trying.

But, this is something we have to learn because it's counter-cultural. It will take time to learn, because it's counter-cultural. Instead of expecting to do it well the first time, we need to begin expecting we won't do it well, expecting to get distracted.

Then we'll begin to discover the value in taking the time. That's when we'll realize a desire for it. That's when it becomes a regular part of our lives and our actions will begin to match up with our talk.

We can't begin expecting it to be a lengthy time. That's not realistic when we're learning anything. We have to teach the muscles what to do and how to do it repeatedly. We build the strength and endurance slowly over time.

We have to start small when we begin to make it a regular part of our lives. And build it from there.

I've always looked up to people who could take days or a week or longer and spend it with God - having shut off the distractions and noise of the world. I wished it was something I could do. I wanted God to give me the ability to do it right away.

But in the last few years, I've discovered it's something developed over time. It starts with a small chunk of time and it grows as we practice it more. As we develop the muscles and endurance for it.

Where are you at with this?

Is it time to start the regular pattern of time to rest? To start small with lots of grace for yourself as you learn and develop the muscle?

Is it time to take the next step in this? To take more time and stretch yourself? All while still offering yourself grace as you grow?

Get Away

Leaves rustling the wind

The only noise to hear

The sky a brilliant blue

Eyes squinting in the sunlight

 

City noise and hustle

Seems a world away

Nothing screaming for attention

No urgent needs to meet

 

Space made to listen together

To be fully present with one another

Time to hear God’s thoughts

A place to learn to pray again

 

Bright greens and orange abound

Trees and brightly-coloured wildflowers

Leaves go silent with no wind

A still small voices speaks

Come Away

"Come away with Me -
Leave the phone behind,
Leave the computer behind -
I want to meet with you."

A million reasons I could not
Flooded through my min
Deadlines, to-do lists, phone calls, emails
All the things I had to do.

"Come away with Me -
You will leave refreshed
Full of all you need
No longer overwhelmed."

Remembering times before
I answered this call willingly
Tasks once such urgent needs
Seem to fade away.

"Come away with Me -
I have great plans for you,
I want to reveal what's next
For you and Me to do together."

Escape the Hurry

Sun reflecting off the water
The cool lake below a refreshing retreat
A place to stop, to escape the hurry
Time seems to stop here
Relax, nothing screaming for attention
Finally, a place with no demands
Nothing on the agenda today
No to-do lists to complete
A time away to laugh with friends
A time to hear from God and speak to Him
A time of rest, a time of Sabbath

Is Your Busyness Robbing You?

Have I let busyness rob me of knowing God the way I might if I wasn't so busy?

I've been pondering this question for a few weeks. It's a challenging one to think about.

We live in a culture that prizes busyness. The answer to the question of how things are going is often that we're busy. And when we're not busy it can feel like we don't have the right answer to that question.

This thinking has infiltrated the church as well. There's a subtle pressure to add more volunteer time to the schedule if we can't continually tell people how busy we are. We look up to those who have filled their weekends and evenings with service.

But when we fill our schedules too full, often one of the first things that gets pushed out is our time with God. And this robs us of knowing God the way we could. Even when we're filling our time with serving at church, that busyness robs us of knowing God the way we could.

Don't get me wrong . . . I'm not saying there is anything inherently wrong with serving at church. In fact, I believe we should all be taking an active role in the church we belong to. But, when the time we spend serving our church makes us so busy we have no time for relationship with God, we have a problem.

How do we respond to this? How do we stop allowing busyness to rob us of knowing God?

We have to learn to create a life with space in it. Space, so we're not running from one thing to the next unsure if we'll be on time. Space, so we can linger with a friend in need. Space, so we can spend time with God and listen to His voice.

We have to learn to slow down - to stop living life in a hurry.

It doesn't come easy. It's a counter-cultural move.

I think we need to change what we celebrate and look up to. Instead of celebrating busyness and looking up to those who are really busy, we need to learn to celebrate being unable to talk about how busy we are.

We need to change the way we look at how we spend our time. We need to see our time with God as the most important thing. We need to move our time with God onto the non-negotiable list and allow other things to go when we don't have enough time to do it all.

Have you allowed busyness to rob you of knowing God the way you could if you weren't so busy?

What's Your Burden?

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)

Well known and familiar words from Jesus. Words we cling to when life is weighing us down.

At least, the part about taking our burdens to Jesus and receiving rest. We cling to that. And that's good.

Jesus is calling us to exactly that in these verses. Jesus tells us we can come to Him tired and carrying heavy burdens and He will take them from us. He will give us rest from all we have been carrying.

But Jesus has more to say than just that in these verses. I've read through them often and never stopped on what Jesus said besides offering rest and relief from heavy burdens.

Jesus also tells us take His yoke upon ourselves and that His yoke is easy and light. Jesus isn't just taking our burdens from us. He is giving us something to carry alongside Him in return.

Jesus takes the heavy burdens we're not supposed to be carrying and replaces them with ones from Him that He wants to carry walking with us. The difference between the burdens we're carrying when we come to Jesus weary and in need of rest and the burden that Jesus gives us in return when we come to Him is that one we're meant to carry and one we're not.

It's when we're carrying the one we're  not meant to carry that we get tired and weary and are in need of rest.

But when we're carrying the burden that comes with Jesus' yoke - the one we're meant to carry - we're not tired because we're not carrying it alone. Jesus us helping us carry it, because He wants us to carry that one.

What burdens are you carrying that you need to take to Jesus so He can give you rest?

Are you ready to begin carrying the burden Jesus has for you to carry with Him?

Ask Jesus to show you what the burden is He has for you to carry with Him.

Five Minute Friday: Rest

I'm trying something new this week. I'm linking up with Five Minute Friday. You can find it on Lisa-Jo Baker's blog. It's about writing on one topic for five minutes with no editing and then sharing it. You can read more about it on her blog.

Today's Word is Rest

Rest . . .

It seems to be something we often talk about wanting more of in our lives. We want it. But we can't seem to find it.

Maybe we never find it because we aren't serious enough when we say we want it to take the steps we need to actually find it. We're not really willing to make the necesary lifestyle changes it would require for us to find more rest.

What would happen if we did do whatever was necessary to find the time to rest that we say we need?

Would the world really stop? Would things really fall apart?

My guess is that we would find that things keep going, even if we stop. At least most things would.

And if they stop just because we decide to rest instead, maybe they weren't that important to anyone else either. So, why were we spending our time doing them when we really needed to rest?

Rest is important. We all know that we can't keep going forever. But I think sometimes we try to do so. It seems like what we're expected to do. But those expectations just might be our own, not others. Chances are other people won't notice to nearly the degree we think they will.

So, maybe we need to get specific about steps we can take to find the right amount of rest in our lives. Rather than just talk about it, we need to do something.


You can find the link to today's Five Mintue Friday post here.