A Little (Forced) Rest and Relaxation

I hadn't been feeling well at all last week. I think it was a sinus thing or bad cold or whatever it was, it had seriously knocked me on my butt. My head felt groggy  and painful and I was So. Dang. Tired. And I mean just about every hour of those few days, I was plain wiped out.

 

The most frustrating thing was that I felt like I shouldn't be so thrown off all because of a silly head cold. If it had been the flu or strep throat, I'd have allowed myself the luxury of feeling miserable and whiny and not felt the least bit guilty about it. But last week, I only wanted to say to my sick self, "woman pull it together already." 

Alas though, my body had not wanted to listen to my drill sergeant brain order itself into healthiness, and instead felt pretty weak and just all around yucky (BTW, picking up a two year old's lingo is a proven side effect of being sick. Honest, look it up on WebMD, it's right there alongside the side effect of one's voice taking on the unnatural pitch of a whiny teenager).

Thankfully, Saturday morning dawned so much better. I did not feel like rolling over and pulling the covers up over my head like I had every other morning last week and I felt back to my normal self. 

I have the tendency to try to fit as much into each and every day as possible, whether it be chores, work, fun activities or quality time with family and friends.  You can often find me saying, "I'll sleep when I'm dead." I enjoy being active, but sometimes I think I don't take the time to rest that I should. 

The idea of rest has popped up numerous times in the last few weeks - in my devotionals, in bible verses I've read or receive in my inbox, in songs I hear, etc. - which has lead me to believe that this is a concept God is trying to get through to me recently.  And maybe last week's bug was my body's way of telling me to slow down a bit and allow myself to rest.

I know that when I don't find time to rest and seek solitude with God, I can allow life's stresses and worries to erode at my day and my joy.

I need to make a conscious effort to be renewed both spiritually and physically.  I also know that my Type A personality can lead me to believe I need to do it all on my own and I need to do it all perfectly and consistently. When I take on that responsibility, of course I'm bound to feel exhausted and that I just don't have the time to relax.  So one of my desires right now is to learn how to find rest in the Lord. Not just in the physical sense, but I want to learn what it means to truly rest in Him.  How do you find rest?