You're Not Getting Enough Rest.

I know it.

You know it.

Everyone knows it, because everyone is in the same boat: we're all exhausted. Burnt out. Tired. Stressed. 2020 bound us all together through a trauma bond -- we experienced a collective trauma, and we're still reeling from the effects of it.

What happened to the sanctity of true rest, y'all? I'm not talking about self-care -- I'm asking you when was the last time you actually rested?

Rest has become so stinkin' hard.

Even with quarantining and social distancing, we are incapable of allowing ourselves to truly stop and rest.

If we aren't juggling school, work, homemaking, errands, events, Church, and caretaking, we don't know what to do with ourselves. Our brains can't handle quiet well.

Rest is nice for those who can get it, but we can't even set our phones aside for a couple of peaceful hours, free of social feeds and the unavoidable comparisons they bring. We must be engaged in some way, with something. Busyness is our business. Rest has become synonymous with impossible.

How do we combat this? How can we possibly stand against it?

Our Jewish brothers and sisters fight the battle of Busyness with something called Sabbath. The Sabbath is sacred; it is a day kept and set apart solely for rest and rejuvenation. There is nothing but rest happening on the Sabbath; no cooking, driving, shopping. Sabbath is protected, for it is the key to restoration that so many of us lack.

Check out this verse from Leviticus, the book of law:

“You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of complete rest, an official day for holy assembly. It is the Lord’s Sabbath day, and it must be observed wherever you live." (v. 23:3 NLT)

Rest is holy because God says it is; it's something He models for us, and something He wants for ALL of us -- whether we are fulltime bosses, or stay at home moms, or teenagers!

Allowing ourselves to be obedient to the call to rest also enables us to live in the peaceful, true rest of God. Hebrews 4:9-11 says this, "So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall."

True, Sabbath rest waits for us and is something we must make time for and be intentional about, because "if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall."

You may already feel as if you've fallen. You may be chronically fatigued, staring down the barrel of the gun of burnout. If it feels as if the center cannot hold, give yourself permission to follow God's command to rest.

Commit to resting once a day for a month. It doesn't have to be Sunday -- you can pick your Sabbath. Commit to staying off the grid, allowing yourself the opportunity to recharge.

You know it. I know it. You're not getting enough true rest.

It's time to follow the command of the Lord.