REST AWHILE

'The Lord, your God will give you rest...' Joshua 1:13 (NIV)

It was 22:43 when I woke up last night. I'd has a rough day, feeling fluey so I retired early after taking appropriate meds. I woke feeling even worse than I has during the day and spent sometime tossing and turning, before finally dropping asleep exhausted. And I'm up early this morning with little reprieve.

What I need is so good old-fashioned rest. You know, the kind where you sleep all day, and are nourished with a hearty soup. And after a few days you're much better and functional. But today's society invites us to pop a few pills and 'get on with life'. So, we do and it appears our ailments seem to drag on and on.

Rest is such a vital part of life. It restores the balance, it provides 'time out' and it promotes healing. But somehow we seem to value those most who are continually working. Those for who, 'I'm busy' is a mantra. Those people who believe that you can rest when you're dead.
And so we too try to rush around, being productive and valuable because society believes we should to our own detriment. Now don't get me wrong, hard work is vitally important. You can't sit down and expect to achieve your goals by doing nothing, but equally important is the ability to stop, down tools and rest.

The Israelites had been wandering around in the wilderness for forty years. They were on a mission, to get to the Promised Land. They are going to conquer it soon and afterwards The Lord has promised them rest. Much needed rest.

At the end of many projects, we are often on such a high that we immediately rush into the next one, without sufficient thought, enough energy and no rest. Maybe, it might be beneficial if we reflected before we started another journey. If we stopped to regain strength, if we rested to restore the balance in our lives.

Today, Father, teach us the value of resting between projects. Of settling down to reflect. Of restoring balance to our busy and often too hectic lives.