When I Rest, I Rust

My small group and I have been digging into how we trust God daily, and the other morning I felt God tugging at me to text these 3 questions to our group, and their answers rushed in with honesty and without haste.

The Questions…
1. Do you FIGHT like Jesus did? Meaning do you speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15), love your enemies (Matt. 5:44), and show kindness, tenderness & forgiveness to others (Eph. 4:32)?

2. Do you GIVE like God instructs us to? (Tithe – Mal. 3:10) 

3. Do you REST like God does? (Sabbath – Gen. 2:2)

The Responses…
1. Yes! Getting better. Yes. Sometimes. Yes.
2. Yes. Yes. Some of that. Sometimes. Yes.
3. No. No. No. Sometimes. Um, what is rest?

I won’t disclose which of these responses was mine, but my little poll revealed that we all stink at resting, which was no surprise to me because even my wife tells people, “Shawn will never retire. He loves to work. When Shawn rests, he rusts.” 

I don’t like underachieving, and I’m always up for a good challenge, so I took the plunge into resting last Sunday. I did nothing. We slept late, took naps, watched a little TV, spent the evening with family, and hit the pillow early that evening. But, as I was falling asleep, all I could think about was what a waste of a day it was. The next day I felt even worse! I had an unLabor Day hangover. It’s like I drank a hefty dose of relaxing remorse mixed with a heaping cup of guilt for wasting weekend time. On top of it all, I felt terrible for feeling this way. 

I didn’t understand why God’s best did not fit me best.

Monday was a rough day. Tuesday was a long day at work. Wednesday was filled with challenging conversations, and I spent Thursday at the Atlanta airport. But check this out: my temper stayed in check for all four days, my anxiety was low, and Anna and I laughed more than we had in a while. Was it a strange week, or was God fulfilling His promise? Looking back, I think I expected God to replace the “doer’s high” of accomplishment with some “rester’s rush.” Instead, in God’s perfect way, He was preparing me for the days ahead. 

What’s your relationship with rest? Are you strangers or buddies? Do you feel like you’ll rust and be worthless if you rest, or do you feel refreshed, renewed, and ready for what lies ahead?

We are all in this together, so please leave a note in the comments. It may take me longer than usual to respond to comments or emails because I’m on vacation this weekend trying to give this rest thing another try. 

In His Service and at yours!
~Shawn