By Ashlie Miller

I am certain many of you can attest to being in a busy season. We are either taking children to sports practices and games or supporting the athlete. We attend or host birthday parties, fall festivals, or other season-specific events we can’t miss (tradition!). Maybe we help with church outreach or fellowship opportunities your church hosts. Perhaps you have to travel this time of year to close up a home for the winter or prep one for your winter snow-birding. Then, of course, the holidays will be here soon, so perhaps we should finish those house or garden projects, prep the house for decor, or start shopping for gifts.

Where is the rest in all of this? Once upon a time, families gathered on Sundays as part of their Sabbath/weekend rest. Now, many families opt for travel ball as their community, which, from everyone I’ve ever known in travel ball, is not restful. For others, Sundays are another day to get ahead of the work week, or wrap up what wasn’t completed.

Then, Monday comes, stubbornly and faithfully each week, and we work in recovery mode rather than restfully refreshed. It’s a bit like going on a trip, not a vacation, with small children, and then needing a week to recover! How many weeks until the next vacation?

This unsolicited topic of guiltless rest has come up frequently in recent conversations with ladies I know: A pastor’s wife relishing the Saturday movie she enjoyed at home – one she picked out, not her children (who were all surprised that mom liked picking out movies). A mom enjoying the late-in-life blessing of her 7-year-old daughter and choosing time at home with her rather than hiring a sitter so she could attend a party with other adults with whom she had little in common. A working mom enjoying an unexpected 3-hour nap on a Saturday when no sports or extended family activities were planned. These ladies each brought up the unapologetic delight of moments of rest and unwinding. I, too, have noted in my journal a couple of cozy afternoons uncluttered by projects and plans, where earned leisure was the agenda for the day.

Regardless of the season, we are busy people, but with the sacredness of Thanksgiving and Advent, it is important to prepare ahead of time. That goes beyond the table decor, as a dear friend recently reflected in conversation. Perhaps, if we put as much intention into entering the season with restful, welcoming hearts as we do in assembling beautiful fall foliage, candles, and pumpkins, our family and friends would be likewise refreshed.

We live in an age where we push back on the right kind of rest. Oh, sure, we all give each other permission to scroll endlessly on our phones, but do we feel rested after draining our hours and lives in that way? More often than not, honest reflection reveals we don’t feel refreshed and invigorated after those indulgences. Perhaps that is why we envision weekly rest as a guilty pleasure – we simply have had little experience cultivating those moments. And yet, the Creator of all good things Himself rested. He modeled what He knew we need – regular, routine rest for our spirits and an understanding that we depend on His provision by limiting our productive days.

Also, we say “yes” to too many good things (often fearing what we are missing out on or what we think is beneficial for our children or us) and can’t say “no” to such commitments. In the last 6-10 years, however,  “no” became easier to say – mostly to things that would build community or ask something of me beyond mere consumption. Often, the things that seemingly take from us are the very things that refresh our souls – being present to benefit the larger community.

The Christian Church provides rest in Christ and in honoring a Sunday Sabbath, while Judaism and Messianic Jewish tradition may honor the weekly Shabbat. A guilt-free rest from work. A recognition that the weekly day of rest is essential to our growth, glorifying God, and enjoying Him forever, which, after all, is the chief end of man.

What can you say “no” to so that you can say “yes” to good, regular, refreshing rest?