Rest for the Weary

I wish the photo were me right now.  

I stayed home from Bible study this evening.  B, my husband, and Evan (our son) went on to church at my urging. I'm exhausted from working all week, my face is flushed, I'm coughing....again. The-Ohio-River-Valley-Notorious-Allergies are brewing the bronchititis in my chest again.

(Insert funny allergy meme, hahaha - I giggle)

I had resigned myself to the couch with a comfy blankie, since the bed was a no go with a grumpy dachshund fighting a beagle over my space. I still can't just REST.  The incessant wheezing and hacking coming from my body is annoying. The mechanical hum of a mowers, neighbor dogs and my own wild animal crew kept me scrolling Reels on my phone instead.

So, I thought, let's be productive.  

Instead of a nap, I am typing about rest at my kitchen table.  I am drinking a zero root beer while also trying to keep a bored beagle from eating half a green plastic easter egg, a Minion pajama shirt left in the floor, a Pete the Cat book he swiped from the shelf and currently, a purple hot wheel.  

Rest seems to be a taboo word in today's society that is always on the go.  Remember the old adage?  “You can sleep when you're dead," Warren Zevon turned the phrase into song. Bon Jovi famously sang, “Gonna live while I'm alive, I'll sleep when I'm dead."

At the beginning of the creation account, what gift did God give himself and, in turn, us? It was the gift of a much needed breather after creating the universe: Genesis 2:2-3 

The seventh day was made a holy, restful day to rejeuvenate, to honor our God of creation.

Granted, God is all-powerful and probably didn't need to kick His feet up on His desk or take a nap in a cloud recliner, but don't you think it was to lead us by example? To call us to take that much needed respite when necessary to heal our minds, bodies and to prepare our souls to better serve Him?

According to the National Institue of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, if you need some science to back all this up,

"Sleep is important to a number of brain functions, including how nerve cells (neurons) communicate with each other. Recent findings suggest that sleep plays a housekeeping role that removes toxins in your brain that build up while you are awake."

My brain is likely brimming with toxins from my 9-5, or in my case, 7:30-4; however, I am reminded what Jesus said to us in Matthew 11:28: ²⁸ Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am ^[a]gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

I will reflect and pray on this passage as I snuggle myelf in tonight for some much needed shut-eye next to B and a portly wiener dog.

I pray you find comfort and rest in His promises too.