Are you exhausted?

It’s okay if you are. Really. Because let’s face it, there are days (or even weeks) when we are beyond tired. And we can either ignore it or admit it.

I, for one, firmly believe admitting it is the first step toward establishing a better plan for next time. And, if we’re really honest, we want to figure out how to avoid ending up in this place again, right?

If we wish to have a weekday of rest, it will no longer happen as a societal default. It will happen only as a result of a conscious choice. All that we need to begin is to “remember,” as the Fourth Commandment tells us. We must remember the why and how of a day of rest.

Matthew Sleeth, 24/6: A Prescription for a Healthier, Happier Life

Do you wish to have a weekday of rest?

Man, I do! My friend Shelly Miller inspires me every week with her Sabbath Society email, a reminder that the world will not stop spinning if I stop spinning all the plates.

But sometimes, if I can just be 1000% honest, I worry that if i stop spinning all those plates, I might find out it’s true — the world won’t stop spinning. And then, well, then I might also find out I’m not as important and necessary and needed as I’d like to be.

Yes, I realize how narcissistic that sounds. But it really isn’t. It’s just me being real with you. I want to believe, to know, that the way I spend my time matters, that I’m making a difference in the lives of others, in the world around me. And I believe you might want that too.

We’re moms and wives and friends and daughters and employees and sisters and volunteers. We take on these roles because we care about people. We accept all the tasks because we want to help and serve others. It’s not that we want to run the world, it’s that we want to be engaged in the lives of the people who are most important to us.

But all of that doesn’t change the fact that today you’re exhausted. So what can we do?

How do we navigate the realities of relationships, the demands of daily life, and our need for a nap?

In his book 24/6: A Prescription for a Healthier, Happier Life (a must read, seriously!), Matthew Sleeth writes, “We must remember the why and how of a day of rest.”

The why and how of a day of rest

Sounds sort of like a unicorn, right? Some mystical creature that happens somewhere in between “once upon a time” and “happily ever after” … but for those of us without glass slippers, taking a whole day to rest just isn’t really an option.

Unless it is.

I’d love to say it’s simple and you just have to take these three simple steps toward a day of dark chocolate bon bons and NetFlix binges. But the truth is, making space for rest in our frenzied world isn’t simple and anyone who tells you otherwise is either crazy or a liar.

Before you get too discouraged though, let me ask you this—what that is really worth having comes easily?

Yes, making space for rest is going to be hard. It’s going to require some big changes, not just to your schedule but also to your whole way of thinking.

Are your ready to make that kind of change?

If so, you are on your way to a different life, a better life. Yes, you’ll still be busy and there will still be demands and expectations and responsibilities. But there will also be space and breathing room and, yes, the abundance Jesus has promised us.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

John 10:10

Why a day of rest?

First, because God commanded it. But second, and almost as important, because we need it. In fact, the busier and more chaotic our lives are, the more we need rest.

How a day of rest?

I can’t tell you exactly what it will look like for you (and neither can anyone else really). But I can tell you this, the how always begins with a willingness to just stop. In her beautiful book, Mudhouse Sabbath, Lauren Winner writes, “But there is something in the Jewish Sabbath that is absent from most Christian Sundays: a true cessation from the rhythms of work and rest, a time wholly set apart, and, perhaps above all, a sense that the point of Shabbat, the orientation of Shabbat, is toward God.”

The how of rest is less about the particular ways we fill the hours and more about the filling of our hearts and minds with Him.

Honestly, when I think about that, I find the answer to both HOW and WHY — an orienting of my whole self toward the Holy God who is Creator, Sustainer, Author, and Perfecter.