Taking Time to Rest
But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her. “ — Luke 10:40-42
I just came home from an extended time away from my everyday obligations. While I was away, I was so recharged for my life as a wife, mother, employee and all the other hats that I wear. I did not even know how much I needed that, but coming home so refreshed taught me a little something about what I needed.
We all need to slow down and somehow stop being so busy. The one thing that I notice always distracts me in my walk with Christ is when I become too busy. If I am stretched too thin going from activity to activity and just making my quiet time a check box, I miss out on experiencing deep relationship with Jesus.
Sometimes, I feel as though we can even be too busy serving. We can see in the passage above that He wants us to sit at His feet and listen and worship Him. He said that Mary made the good choice. That has always struck me. It’s not always about how much you volunteer (but yes, living in community we do that), but are you making time to spend with God to hear His voice?
We need that time with Him in our busy schedules. He says in Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”
Does your body need rest from work? Everyday activities of life? Busyness of service to the church and community? These are all good things that we should be doing, but we must make space. I have been leaning into and growing in these two areas: Sabbath and Solitude.
No wonder Sabbath was a biblical command and something Jesus did all throughout his ministry. Sabbath allows us to find joy and rest in Jesus. Whether you stop cleaning, folding clothes or doing chores or you and your loved ones just eat really yummy food enjoying what God has given you, this day is meant to just have pleasure enjoying the gifts we have from God. I challenge you to find a way to incorporate Sabbath into your week as resting each week has brought so much life.
Solitude is something new to my daily rhythms. I started out setting a timer for five minutes (it felt like forever), and just sat hearing what I could from God. I will never forget my first go-round. It took a few minutes to settle the junk from the day out of my mind, and once I did I heard an affirmation from God. Now I try to do it most days away from all the noise in the house and just take in what He is saying to me. The book that was recommended to me by my Spiritual Director is “An Invitation to Silence and Solitude: Experiencing God’s Transforming Presence” by Ruth Haley Barton. It has truly been incredible to come before Christ offering all that I have and hearing from Him anything He wants to tell me.
I know we don’t all have lots of vacation days to go away. Taking Sabbath and Solitude does not mean boring days without anything to do, but rather enjoying who Jesus is even more so we can silence the things of this world to draw close to him. It has been life giving for me and I hope you find it the same.
ABOUT OUR BLOGGER
Susan Veenema and her husband, Jeremy, love exploring Chester County with their two older biological daughters and three adopted children. Susan has been in education for almost 20 years supporting children with disabilities and their families. She currently works at the Department of Education. One of her greatest joys is leading Thursday night women's Bible study and her couples community group. People are her passion. She loves to read, write and study everything from history to social sciences to the early church. You'll always find her trusty German Shorthaired Pointer by her side.