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Verse:“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” —Matthew 11:28, NKJV
I wonder how well I slept as a baby.
My mother is no longer alive for me to ask this question, but I am curious. Did I sleep soundly, oblivious to surrounding noises? Was I a light sleeper so that everyone had to tiptoe once I was in bed for fear I would awaken? Did I enjoy taking naps as a child? (Ask me that now, and I will tell you at this stage of my life, I yearn for more sleep.) I recall stopping at a friend’s house. As I met the mother at the door, she put her finger to her lips and stepped outside, fearing our conversation at the door would awaken her newborn baby. It seemed he reacted to the slightest noise and had a hard time sleeping soundly.
One day my husband and I took our motorhome and stopped overnight before reaching our son’s place in Illinois, USA. We both slept in.
Have you ever heard that phrase before? We slept for almost ten hours. I could hardly believe it. It felt luxurious to have been given the gift of extra sleep.
I felt so rested. And my—did that feel wonderful.
I am typically lucky to get seven hours of sleep at night.
Rest. I just love that word! R-E-S-T.
What does it look like to you? A quick word search defines rest as “cease work or movement in order to relax, refresh oneself, or recover strength.”* Some synonyms include slow down, recharge one’s batteries, and take a load off.
So what does rest mean for our spiritual life? Do we fully let go of our burdens? We pray—but do we pick up our burdens at the end of prayer? Some people are born worriers, but being a worrier is like rocking in a rocking chair and expecting to go somewhere. Instead, why don’t we picture God gladly taking on our burdens, allowing us to rest assured that He knows and cares about each one? What a glorious mind picture of His willingness to take all that weighs us down and give us complete and perfect rest. Rest—it is what we all need.
Most of us need physical rest, and more likely than not, all of us need spiritual rest. Jesus says He wants our cares and worries.
And guess what? He knows what to do with them anyway.
So go grab some z’s. Rest well!
Valerie Hamel Morikone
* Encyclopedia.com, s.v. “rest (v),” last updated May 21, 2018, https://www.encyclopedia.com/literature-and-arts/performing-arts/music-theory-forms-and-instruments/rest.