How often do we stop and take time to rest? This week has been one of my most joyous, yet stressful weeks of the semester. I have been running at about 90 mph since August, and it finally happened, my body gave out beneath me, and I was forced to press pause for a day. I have this terrible habit of speed running life. I try to do everything at once and never schedule in time for genuine rest.

This week has been a forced reminder of how important rest is for the believer. It is so hard to be in an intimate relationship with anyone, especially Christ, when you are constantly running from one obligation to the next.

We excuse our busyness saying that this is just for a season, but slowly over time our seasonal sacrifices become habits which then become part of our lifestyle. You cannot live life waiting to get started with whatever it is that you are currently being called to do; there will never be a perfect time to get started.

Why not start today on this random non-special Wednesday in the middle of November? Make the changes that you need to make in your life now. Don’t wait until New Years or when you graduate college or when you get that dream job or have settled down in your forever home. Today is your day to start.

For me, I have decided that I am going to be prioritizing rest and alone time with Christ in my life. What this looks like practically, I’m not totally sure yet. It may be waking up earlier and spending time in silence with Christ before reading through his word. It may mean driving around town on random Wednesday afternoons just enjoying his creation and being in his presence without worrying about the rest of the world. It could also be as simple as tossing my phone across my room and spending time disconnected from the chaos of the world. Regardless of how, the question of why is entirely more important. 

Your motivation and reasoning for each decision that you make is what gives you strength on the days when all you want to do is to give up. If you do not have a strong foundation, you will never see permanent change. For the believer, our foundation is in Christ alone. He is our source of strength and hope. It is because of him that I live. It is because of him that I do everything that I do. Without having him as my foundation, I would have no motivation for anything here on this Earth. 

I see now how important rest is in our lives. It is hard to hear God speak when you never stop talking. You can pray to him all day long, but if you never stop and listen you’re missing out on the other half of this two sided relationship.

This past weekend I was at a church retreat and our focus was “Recharge”. We talked about how we go through life just skimming over the top instead of actually living. In scripture, we have the perfect example of how to live a godly life through God himself as the person of Jesus, fully God and fully man. In Mark we see Jesus departing to a desolate place to pray to his father. He prioritized rest. He prioritized deliberate solitude alone with his father. 

In today’s society we don’t allow for solitude and we have forgotten the art of boredom. I remember back when I was a kid on summer break, I’d be terribly bored, but I knew better than to tell my parents lest I be given a list of chores. It was in those moments that I had my most creative ideas and crazy inventions.

Boredom can be such a beautiful thing because it implies calmness. When we seek solitude with the Lord, we have to empty ourselves into what many would label “boredom” because we remove all distractions until it is just us alone with Christ. You have to silence the external noise in your life as well as the internal noise. At our retreat, we were given the opportunity to do exactly this. 

We each went out with our bibles and a yearning to be with Christ without all of the distractions that bombard us each day. I wandered for awhile trying to find the right trail head and then I started walking into the woods with no destination in mind except some sort of cool rock.

Eventually the trail got boring, so I veered off and started to go up the mountain. I went for awhile until I reached the tallest rock I could see. It was there that I sat and just stopped. I could have kept going, but I was tired of running on my own. I knew that I needed rest and my mind needed to slow down. 

I pulled out my phone and began playing songs from my church back home and let the words flood over me.

At some point, I began talking. I asked God to show himself to me. I asked him to continue to give me a desire to know him better. Then I stopped and just watched.

I watched the leaves fall down like snowflakes all around me. I listened to the wind tossing across the sea of fallen leaves. I looked around in all directions and was at such peace because it was me truly alone with no trail in sight. If it weren’t for the screaming kids in the distance, I wouldn’t have had any idea where I was. 

One of the hardest parts of being away at college has been not having a woods in my backyard to escape to. This retreat was so utterly refreshing because I was able to escape for a little bit and be more fully in the presence of God. Maybe I’m still on the post-camp high, maybe I’m not. Regardless of my emotional state, the truth still speaks through me here.

God desires to be in relationship with us. It is such a simple thing that we need to be reminded of, but relationships are not just one sided. You have to talk, but you also have to listen. You have to be present. You have to be willing to be still. 

I don’t know where you are today, but I do know that you need rest just as much as I do. Why not take a moment today, on this now, early-morning, random, non-special Thursday, to be still and be with God. Allow yourself to be alone from the rest of the world. Step back from your many responsibilities, for just one moment, and let God’s peace flood your soul.

Don’t wait until you’re sick with a cold and forced to stay home from school and work to begin this habit of solitude. Today is as good of a day as any other day. This is the day that the Lord has made.