I saw a social media post that got me thinking about how we frame rest. When we have downtime, we often talk about doing nothing or not doing much. Is it really that we are doing nothing?
Or is it that we don’t assign value to what we are doing through a misplaced sense of guilt for wasting time?
I have rarely done nothing, even if that’s my standard answer. Sometimes I napped, sometimes I watched TV, sometimes I gardened, sometimes I spent some time in solitude just watching the birds in my bird bath. Sometimes, I went for a walk. All of these things are part of what is a very intentional habit of rest in my life.
I spend so much time writing and speaking about rest and its importance. Yet I still fall into the trap of feeling like I am wasting time. Living a life of intentional rest has totally changed my life, and I still feel a strange kind of guilt attached to “doing nothing.”
Rest Revives The Depleted Areas of Our Lives
We need to reframe rest. One of my favourite quotes is by Dr Saundra Dalton-Smith
The most effective rest occurs when we purposefully revive the parts of our life we regularly deplete
Rest is reviving us. It replenishes and refreshes the parts of our lives that we regularly deplete. The depletion happens in many ways: parenting, creating, working, leading, teaching, and relationships with others. We are constantly drawing on these areas and never refilling them. This leaves us heading for burnout at worst, and at best, never functioning at our capacity in the areas of our lives that serve, love and pour into others. The most critical areas.
Rest is a Guilt Free Gift
Resting is not doing nothing. It is replenishing me. It is restoring me. It allows me to prepare for the week ahead and function at my best. My time spent reading a book or gardening is rest. It is restorative, and it is a gift from God. My time spent “doing nothing” allows me to refresh. It allows me to effectively love others and walk in everything God has called me to. There is no guilt associated with that. It is an absolute blessing in my life.
Article supplied with thanks to Lorrene McClymont.
About the Author: Lorrene McClymont is a writer and photographer from Hope Images. On her blog ‘Moments to Rest’, she shares about rest, faith, and family.
Feature image: Canva
