As I sit on the boardwalk steps, suspended above the protected dunes, awaiting the final sunrise of my personal retreat in Jekyll Island, GA, I feel immensely grateful. I am grateful to be alive, grateful for being loved, and thankful for the opportunity to rest—truly rest.
I am learning that rest and care are more than just a pause when life gets too much; they are a profound journey.
During these last two weeks, I have had the privilege of hosting my first Rest Retreat, participating in a personal retreat with two fellow new worshiping community leaders, and spending another weekend away by the time this post is published. Three long weekends in a row of resting, engaging the seven areas of rest, and caring for myself.
At the culmination of these past two weeks of retreating, here are a few observations:
Rest Begins with Listening to Your Inner Wisdom
While all attempts at rest and care provide relief and decrease stress, fatigue, and overwhelm, they can be topical, and the results are short-lived. However, when we engage in the rest and care that our inner wisdom/intuition/Spirit (however you define your interior self or relationship to self) directs and requires, we enter into a realm of personal rest.
When Rest Changes You
The more I follow my inner wisdom and supply my soul with the types of rest I need, the more I’m drawn to exploring rest and living life from a rested/care vantage point. I’m about to go completely down the rabbit hole because if my spotty attempts at connected rest and care have given me such gifts, what more could an intentional lifestyle of care offer?
Rest is Healing
It may seem obvious, but rest, at its core, is restorative. I think of Sabbath and Jubilee in the Bible, which are mechanisms by which God offers the benefits of rest, restoration (healing), and a reset to creation. Plus, rest just feels so deeply satisfying and grounded.
Sabbath: A Gift Worth Cultivating
What I love about the loving-kindness of God is the foresight to know that this world will pull us out of whack. Knowing this, God instituted the concept of sabbath from the foundation of the world for all creation. That in it, as a community, we would find rest, restoration and reset.
Whether you practice a traditional sabbath or a reimagined sabbath, being intentional about your care time is essential. Planned, protected, and consistent spaces of rest and care are necessary for our health and wellness. I love knowing when I can rest again and when rest will be accessible. I can rely on it, draw strength from it, and focus on it.
Resting Together is Powerful
I can not stress this factor enough. As a connector who builds community, I was surprised at how helpful, comforting, and encouraging it was to be in communion with persons seeking similarly. It was such a sense of ease.
Additionally, I observed that both retreats had different purposes. They convened people from various communities where I belonged, which rested, stirred, and awakened different aspects of who I am. They helped me not only to relax but also to process and play.
Rest Expands Our Capacity to Create
As a content creator, constantly creating on demand can be burdensome. However, over the last few months, as I have begun to rest effectively and care for myself, my imagination and creativity have expanded and flowed far more freely. My ability to dream is being restored.
Caution: With that newness, I must remind myself that only the excess, the overflow, can be gifted to the world. That which is in the cup is for my consumption, my wholeness.
Rest Reminds Me of My Worthy
This isn’t about discovering my worth for the first time—I know I’m loved and valued. But rest is deepening that understanding. It’s like I’m sitting in the truth of it in a new way: offering an expansive sense of importance, love, and light is dawning in me as I rest. To and from the Creator and the communities to which I belong. A sense of being, becoming, and offering is happening simultaneously within me. I feel quiet and open, yet reserved. It is humbling and beautiful.
I have said a lot. This post has become somewhat of a journal entry, hasn’t it? Each of these seven observations could be a separate blog post. There is some possibility of that happening. Let me know in the comments if that would be helpful. I hope you have enjoyed my observations and have some kindred observations from your endeavors to rest.
Remember, the journey to rest and self-care is not a race on a straight path. It is a gentle, meandering, deeply personal journey that ebbs and flows, so be gentle with yourself and extend grace often to yourself.
How are you approaching rest in this season? If you feel moved, take a moment to write down any thoughts or discoveries that have stirred within you as you read.
This picture shows how the sunrise appeared as I opened the curtains. I couldn't get outside fast enough to enjoy it. See this morning's sunrise here and the contemplative artwork it inspired.
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