Sweet Rest.

"Sweet Rest."

The sound of these two words as they roll of my lips sounds so good. So pure. So filled. Yet what does sweet rest look like? How often do I delight in it? How much do I take it for granted?

I like to sometimes pretend that I'm better at exhaling than I actually am. I'll tell others or worse, tell myself, that I'm really soaking in this whole idea of sweet rest. You know, the kind of rest where you disappear for a weekend to little nooks of a cozy coffee house simply to read, mediate, pray, and enjoy the splurge of one too many coffees. The kind of rest where you turn your phone off, put your computer in a locked case so you can't even be tempted to get it out, and simply just sit to breathe. The kind of rest where you take an extra long walk out by the lake, listening to your favorite of Ben Rector or Colbie Calliat, while you just soak in the sunshine and purposefully try to get lost. The kind of rest where you give up working on lesson plans, grading papers, or planning labs, so you can have an extended lunch with a close friend, simply sharing your hearts. The kind of rest where you take a road trip to visit family for no particular reason except for the fact that you miss them and want to be in their company, and you spend the entire afternoon playing outside, sleeping in, and watching sunsets with a cold beer in hand by a fire. The kind of rest where you sit out on your balcony just diving into the Word, just talking with God about really anything, and for that time, time itself doesn't exist. It's just you, Him, pure stillness and meditation...and a cold diet coke sitting next to you.

When I think of sweet rest, that's what I think of. Everything above and more. Last night, as I sat at Urban Dog coffee, reflecting on my day, unwinding with a coffee and my feet up on the couch, I wondered silently to myself: "Why don't I do this more often?" And so as I sit now in the peace and quiet of my over-sized classroom, soaking in some quiet and allowing the Lord to prepare my heart for the kiddos I have who are about to tumble through my door in 20 minutes, I continue to ponder this question. When these kids come through my door, I am blessed. They are beyond a blessing in my life and I love them with every fabric of my being. With them they bring not only their mind and intellect, but their heart, their fears, their anxieties, their struggles, their hopes, their dreams, their drama, their curiosities, and their feelings. And they drop it off, right at the foot step of my door. My job is not a job-it is an opportunity to love. I have been given the opportunity to love 125 children every single day. Though this of course brings with it exhaustion and frustration at times. It brings with it hurdles and hoops to jump through. It brings with it experiences and situations I was never prepared for in college.

At the end of the day, I know the Lord is calling me to this sweet rest. He is calling me to rejuvenate my energy in Him. He is calling me to lay down before Him any and all struggles I may have encountered throughout my day. Any obstacles or frustrations. He calls me to lay down my joys and laughs that I gathered throughout the day. All of those moments of pure joy and feelings of victory, feelings of progress and growth. He asks for it all. And in return, He offers sweet rest and He desires to fill me with it, surround me with it, soak me in it. Yet how often do I extend my hand out and actually accept this sweet kind of rest? How often do I say "Thank you Lord, I will take this and delight in it." How often do I respond to this rest?

Thinking back on my days lately, though I hate to admit it, my response has been poor. Instead of delighting in it, I put it as the very last thing on my list for the day. I always fool myself, thinking I'll get around to it, but of course I allow all other things to get in the way. Instead of making sweet rest a necessity and a priority, I make it a check list at the bottom of my to-do list, as if it had the same value or importance as "run to Target," "plan for the trip," "clean tub."
Writing it out like that I literally sit here and laugh-at myself! How could I ever think that any of those things compared to the pure joy that can be found, and that is found, when we take time to rest in Jesus?

"Sweet Rest." Two simple words. So pure and so filled. Yet how often do I delight in it? How often do you delight in it, the way God meant for us to delight in it?