Fear arises when we imagine everything depends on us.
— Elisabeth Elliott
This quote has been showing up lately on my social media. I researched to see if she actually said it. Lately, there are a lot of quotes flying around social media being attributed to C.S. Lewis that were never said or written which are being claimed are his. It’s sort of a literary pet peeve of mine, but I digress. I couldn’t find much to discount that it wasn’t her, so we’re going with it.
Her quote reminded me of rest. I’ve been receiving some questions lately about how to rest. Honestly, it’s hard to answer because, first of all, I don’t have all the answers. This is all a work in progress.
Secondly, it looks different for each person in each season of life. My rest looks much different now with two adult children and two teens than when I had four children ages six and under.
MUCH different.
In her book Choosing Rest, Sally Breedlove relates three parts of a definition of rest. It means to stop, to celebrate, and to suffer to be lacking. (Wait, what? I’ll explain, keep reading)
To Stop
To stop — rest means to stop doing, stop figuring it out, stop fretting, stop worrying, and start trusting. God showed us what it means to rest when, on the seventh day, he stopped and created the Sabbath or Shabath.
He didn’t need to rest; He’s God, but I think He was showing us that we need a day to rest – to meet with the body of Christ, set up some boundaries around our week, and initiate some rhythms. We’re human, and humans need rest. What do you need to stop doing?
To Celebrate
To celebrate – I started rereading through the entire Bible chronologically using Tara-Leigh Cobble’s Bible Recap, (It’s a podcast and also a YouVersion Bible reading plan), and it’s so eye-opening to make observations about God creating the world.
When looking for patterns of language, we see in Genesis 1 how, at the end of every day, God took an evaluation and declared what He did that day as good.
When was the last time you evaluated your day, NOT for what was lacking, but for what was GOOD?
How often do you take an evaluation of what is working and what’s not?
When was the last time you took the opportunity to celebrate how far God has brought you?
All growth is an opportunity for celebration. (By the way, I WAS going to wait to read through the Bible at January 1st as a New Year’s resolution, but thought, nah, let’s start now!).
“To Suffer To Be Lacking”
The last part of Sally’s definition of rest means “to suffer to be lacking”; it’s a little bit confusing, but this quote explains it from Sally’s book:
We find rest in the incompleteness of the present moment as we learn to recognize the goodness of what is and as we trust that what is needed for the future will be added at the proper time.
At its core, rest means to let go. It doesn’t all depend on us. We can’t do it all. We can’t be all. We can’t give it all.
Rest is about trade-offs. We have to choose. There’s no such thing as balance. Sometimes, our child with needs requires more of our time and attention; other times, it’s something else. We have to set boundaries based on our current season. We have to decide what is most important and make choices around that.
Rest is primarily about trust.
We know we will be lacking in some area or another: strength, endurance, sleep, stamina, or time. We suffer as a result of what is lacking, but resting means trusting that God will provide what we need, what our kids need, at the proper time. We may not even see it right now. Sometimes, rest means choosing to stop instead of doing. Even canceling a necessary doctor’s appointment because we just can’t do that today – trusting God will care for our child, and we can trust Him for our child’s future in that area.
I’ve often heard stories about the sculptors, artists, and creators who fashioned the magnificent cathedrals in Europe. They started these projects knowing they would never see the final results of their handiwork, but they did it anyway. We have to stop believing the lie:
We’re only succeeding if we see results and success.
In our small daily choices to let go, breathe, pray, listen to scripture, love, and care, we are planting seeds that will produce a harvest — we can’t see it yet, but through our faithfulness, through our offering of five loaves and two fishes, God can use it for His glory. We may never see the full culmination of our work through our jobs, spouses, children, families, or any other area we’re involved in, but God knows. He asks us to be faithful, which also means faithfulness in resting.
Lastly, I want to close with a very small section of a liturgy from Every Moment Holy, Volume II: Death, Grief & Hope.
This is for Caregivers In Need of Rest.
Amidst this blur of days and nights
spent in service to another,
grant me the grace and wisdom, O Lord,
to also find my own renewing rhythms.
Make me mindful of the need to care for myself
as I can – in the moments when I sit and pray
or slip away to eat, or read, or sleep,
or to let my mind focus on some diversion.
In this way let me find respite in bits and pieces,
that I might feed the reservoir from which
your living mercies flow.
Let me know the blessing
of being met by your grace
each time I reach the end
of my own best efforts.
P.S. You can grab your copy here. It’s page 30.
Carrie M. Holt 
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