Day 12: Rest

When I was itty-bitty, my daddy was always trying to get me to take a nap.  "Jerralea, come lay here with daddy and take a nappy."

"Noooooooooo,"  I would yell, "don't want no nappy!"  I was a little busy-body and taking a nap was not my idea of a good time.

Truthfully, it still isn't.  I do have myself trained for a Sunday afternoon nap, but that is about the only time I can make myself lie down.

Our Lord has commanded us to take a day off to rest each week.  He knows we need that because people like me just can't make themselves stop.

But more than physical rest, we also need to learn to take mental rest.  I love going out on road trips to various nature spots and spend time just drinking in the beauty of this world.  It is so restful! I feel like my batteries got re-charged.

Even then, if I am suffering mental anguish, I still don't feel rested.  When times like that come, I try my best to give my burdens to Christ.  Eugene Peterson's paraphrase of Matthew 11:29-30 says it all:

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”  Matthew 11:29-30The Message (MSG)

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What's your favorite way to get rest?  Your words are important.  Leave a comment and share!

This post is Day 12 of a series entitled 31 Days of Life on the Journey where I share about my journey as a believer, wife, mom and grandmother.  I invite you to return each day to find the newest link here. Myquillin at The Nester is the creator of the 31 Day Challenge.  I'm linking this post to the category, "Faith and Inspiration." You can also visit Kate's blog, "Heading Home" to read the posts of all the other participants of the 31 day challenge who are writing on her daily prompts for 5 minutes. Today's prompt is "rest."

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