When God Just Keeps Saying the SAME Thing... Rest - a Five Minute Friday post

You know how it goes... {Insert Gushing Comment about my tribe over at #fmfparty on Twitter and the whole Five Minute Friday Community here.}

This is Five Minute Friday (- a five minute timed free write) and our One Word Prompt for the day is: REST

{GO}

I can't seem to escape this word... or of the need for it to manifest in my life.

Rest... we all need it!  

We hunger and thirst for it even --but it's not loud and it will not shout for our attention.

It's easy to put it off... push it aside... or think we are immune to needing it.  

It's not something this world offers freely and it will not happen on accident!  

True rest is intentional and slow... it seeps down deep to water our roots and often it's only when we find ourselves bone dry and dying of thirst that we notice our need of it!

I can't quit writing about it... or feeling the push and pull to, you know, actually DO it! To participate in actively pursuing Sabbath and Rest.

It was God's idea (and example, btw!) ...and we so need it --it's just that in our chaotic culture of multitasking and bossy calendars... in our quest for productivity and social media accomplishments, we forget that we actually hit that proverbial brick wall if we do not stop and practice a little self-care by entering in to rest --preferably, His rest... but honestly, either way. Our bodies do THE MOST productive work while we are resting... so it's not surprise that when we cut sleep short, burn the candle at all ends, and run --literally run (read: speed. What? It's fine.) from one thing to the next... we are actually running straight for burn out!

Rest is something I can't get away from... I find myself longing for it, minutes after I have found it! I pray and declare over myself --that I will remember to make it a practice --a discipline. 

I remind myself that Resting and Not Doing Stuff are not the same!

Rest is slow, yes. But it doesn't have to take long.

I'm like a broken record about the practice of simply Five Minutes of Silence! (Thank you, James Bryan Smith!) If we are intentional in our pursuit and prioritizing of Rest, we will find that it can happen in the in between, even if the in between is not that time consuming!

I love how Eugene Peterson says that sometimes we need to let our souls catch up to our bodies.

Yes. That.

And it's summertime! A season that both slows and clutters, right? Less routine, but more activity... and much of that can be restful.  Vacations, little breaks, casual get togethers, concerts in the park, movies outside, walks in the cool of the day... 

Wait... that sounds familiar!

Selah (...which means to pause and ponder... which sounds a bit like Rest to me!)

{STOP}

I almost didn't write because... well, like I said - Rest is apparently one of my Life Messages and it seems I don't go too many days in a row without talking about it (and needing it myself!)

Also there is this:  My Honey and I, along with our pastors, are off to the mountains to pray and plan... and 'squeeze in' a bit of Rest, too!

Praying you find Rest this week. 
  May you seek it out, make room for it.

You just may be surprised at how good it feels and how dry and thirsty your soul was --trying to keep up with your body! 

Linking up with Kate Motaung and the #fmfparty Community today.  Five Minute Fridays gives us the chance to dive right in and share what He puts on our hearts! Click HERE to read what others have to say about: "REST"

The FMF lowdown: The gathering happens on Twitter on Thursday nights & then we write our hearts out & hit publish all over the interwebs on Thursday & Friday (& sometimes on Tuesdays!) It's where we encourage & uplift... where we share prayer requests & praise reports... where we talk food & friends & we find support & kindred hearts. It's where we are reminded that life is good & God is good & we're not alone... & then we all write for five minutes flat, a flash mob of wordsmiths letting our hearts & our fingers do the talking tapping & we hit publish before we can second guess it all away. We'd love to have you join us!

I'm also linking up with:

#FreshMarketFriday... how adorable is that?














and #LetUsGrow