Learning to Enjoy Rest

I laid my limp, sleeping baby down in his crib. I eased my arm out from behind his head, freezing as his eyebrows furrowed. I held my breath, watching his belly move up and down and his face relax. I crept back to my bedroom and climbed into bed, cringing with each squeak of the springs. 

If you’re a parent, you know how this story ends.

I barely touched my head to my pillow when a scream echoed from his room. It was 3:00 a.m. and the third time I had completed this process.

I went back to my baby and scooped him into my arms. His crying faded to a whimper. He stared up at me with bright blue eyes between drooping eyelids.

“Baby boy,” I whispered. “You’re tired; you need sleep.”

Despite how frustrating I find it when my babies resist sleep, I find myself following the same pattern. I work against my own sagging eyelids when I should be sleeping because the house “needs” to be dusted. I stay up late visiting with friends rather than submitting to my burning, tired eyes. I refuse help around the house because “I should be able to do this on my own.”

Perhaps you do the same. Do you resist the rest your body aches for because the floors must be scrubbed today? Do you say yes to yet another project, another event, even though your schedule already has you weary? Do you continue to say no to help with the housework or help with your children despite how much you crave a nap and some quiet time to yourself? 

What if we stopped following the example of our children and instead obeyed God’s call to rest?

Read the rest at Gospel-Centered Discipleship.