Rest

The day after Labor Day, I took a little mini-daytrip to Jennings Beach, 26 miles north of New Haven.

It was a wonderful time of being by myself, and with myself.  I really enjoy my own company :)

I settled onto the sand, taking in the feel the beach.  Compared to the vastness of SoCal beaches, things here seemed cozy and calm.  Mostly families with children and retired couples occupied the shoreline, and the Long Island Sound that we faced had small waves that were soothing and gentle compared to the excitement of crashing waves that I was used to.

The waters beckoned to me, and soon I found myself first wading, then swimming, dog paddle-style, in the shallow area near the shore.  As my body met with the push and pull of the waves, my muscles relaxed even as they worked to keep me afloat.  The sun was warm but not too strong, and the waters were cool and refreshing.  I found myself smiling wide, smiling up at the sun and smiling towards the horizon where blue sky met blue water.

An hour passed, and still I swam in the water, submerging my head and attempting strokes in freestyle.  The wrinkling skin on my fingertips told me that I should seek rest ashore, so reluctantly, I made my way back to my mini encampment on the sand.  Lounging comfortably, I read a few chapters from Kate Chopin's The Awakening, enjoying the changing landscape of the clouds above.

The sun played hide-and-seek!

It brought me tremendous glee to think that, on a day when most  people were getting back to their routine, I was taking time off to rejuvenate myself and to rest my soul.

Interestingly, the sermon on church over the past weekend had been on rest, and it challenged me to find ways and rhythms of incorporating rest into my schedule.

Rest is something I greatly value but am still seeking to understand and practice.

A few of my personal takes on what rest means for me:

• Rest can happen even in the midst of busyness.  It's more of a mindset rather than a behavior, although mindset does influence behavior.
• Rest is a surrendering of things that weigh us down, an ordering of priorities towards what is eternal and important.
• Rest is not the same as being lazy, nor does it necessarily entail leisure activity.  There are days when I have very little on my schedule but do not feel rested.
• Rest requires a trust in God to provide for me and an obedience to the necessity of tackling the demands of life with both soberness and joy.

I don't always succeed in this practice of rest, but on the days that I do, I am much happier and more productive.

A few other thoughts on rest and what it means:

• Nature brings rest, but does one necessarily need to get out into nature in order to achieve rest?  What about people who live in the inner city or the slums, with no means of getting outside of that environment?  Surely, there must be a way to have rest in any kind of situation.
• Days off certainly help with finding rest, but there are so many people around the world who must work around the clock to even put food on the table.  How does rest happen for people like that?

Clearly, rest must be something that takes an amount of intentionality to achieve, and perhaps for some, even a kind of supernatural grace to find.

A final passage on which to end, a passage which I don't fully understand and intend to use for meditation:

Hebrews 4 
Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2 For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. 3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,

“So I declared on oath in my anger,
    ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”
And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. 4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh day God rested from all his works.” 5 And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”

6 Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, 7 God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted:

“Today, if you hear his voice,
    do not harden your hearts.”
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.