Making Space for Rest
Our lives are full… filled to the brim and overflowing with daily tasks, responsibilities, entertainment, and noise. We wear busyness like a badge and find our worth in how productive we can be. I do it all the time. I like to think of myself as having a super-power when I can make dinner, listen to a podcast, dole out healthy snacks, and put in a grocery order all at the same time. (Our family eats a lot of food). It feels good to be productive… and it’s not always bad of course. But being productive doesn’t always mean we are being fruitful. It doesn’t always mean we are living our best life. It’s hard for me to slow down, to just do one thing at a time… to wait… to listen. This is very unnatural to me and it takes intentional effort and planning. But I’m learning that it’s so worth it. Making space for rest is an act of trust and surrender, but on the other side my soul is restored.
There are many ways to practice this… to be more intentional about rest. We can get up an hour earlier and create space for silence and solitude, we can take a sabbath and give up internet for one day a week… When done consistently this can be transformative. But chances are, if you’re like me, you can easily get sucked back into the rush and busyness the minute that sabbath time is over. We need better habits and practices throughout our day… a new way of existing. We need to take an inventory of our souls and protect our peace.
Charlotte Mason, a British educator of the early 1900s said “Habit is inevitable. If we fail to ease life by laying down habits of right thinking and right acting, habits of wrong thinking and wrong acting fix themselves of their own accord.”
In other words, if we aren’t intentional about forming good habits, our default is to tend toward habits that are not good for us. That’s the nature of our sin that pulls us toward what is quick, easy, comfy, and sometimes wicked. Romans 8:6-7 says “The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.”
That is our baseline. The sin inside us causes us to naturally tend toward what is self-serving, not God-serving.
BUT, because of what Jesus did on the cross, we have been made righteous in God’s eyes and now have the Holy Spirit to help us live out righteous lives.
Romans 8:10-11 says “But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.”
That’s the bigger picture of what we believe as Christians, which sounds hard, yet simple. But let’s get more specific on some ways we can live this out in our oversaturated, overstimulated, going 1000-miles per hour lives…
I’m learning that what I’m about to suggest is extremely uncomfortable for people, but the longer it’s been since I “hit the eject button on the train to crazy-town,” the more I’m convinced that more people need to follow suit for their own sanity and peace as well. (Yes, I’m going to go from the cross to telling you to get off your phones. Stay with me…)
This is not the only way you can make space for rest in your life, but I’m convinced it’s a very good place to start.
I knew I needed to get rid of one glaringly obvious thing that was stealing my attention, my time, and my peace and that was Instagram. For you it might be Twitter, Snapchat, Tik Tok, scrolling the weather channel app, or any myriad of time-sucking apps that aren’t always bad, but are stealing something from you daily. (*I’m not going into all the ways your phone/ apps can be a helpful tool that ad value to your life… clearly, there’s nuance here and we should all seek to have a healthy relationship with technology. I’m merely suggesting that your phone/ technology/ specifically social media could be taking more from you than it’s giving). No one likes being fooled.
Does this make you uncomfy? Let’s look back at this story…
“The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people, and your father’s household to the land I will show you… So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.” (Genesis 12:1&4)
God had something really big in store for Abraham (back when he was Abram)… but in order for him to receive it, he had to leave the ultimate comfort (his own country and people) to go to an unknown, foreign place. (If he can do that, we can get off our phones, right?) God had a better way, a better plan in store for him, and I think He does for us too.
But how in the world did he do that?? How did he leave everything familiar and safe for an unknown land?
It all comes down to TRUST. Where we ultimately put our hope and find our identity.
Abraham knew his God and trusted His idea for his life was better than his own. Leaving the social media world is, in a way, just like that. You leave comfort, familiarity, instant affirmation, and a sense of being known by the world behind for something unknown, unfamiliar, and terrifying. Your living room might be terrifying when it’s just you in it… or your wife… or … well anything without the easy escape of your phone and the entire world of the internet at your fingertips.
But it’s just candy. It tastes good for a bit, but then you end up with a stomachache later on. It doesn’t give you what you’re looking for in the end. It doesn’t satisfy. You can spend hours engaging in social media and still feel exhausted afterwards. I don’t think we were made to live in such a big world… I think we were made for a smaller one, to know our neighbors, to have real conversations, to do less and sleep more… to rest.
What if God has unknown blessings for us He wants to fill into all that time we are spending on our phones? What if He has deeper relationships in store, deeper understanding, and a deeper security in Him if we would only make space. What if He has “great and unsearchable things you do not know” (Jer. 33:3) if we would only give Him our attention.
His way for us looks more like slowing, abiding, listening… even facing the monsters that lurk in your living room and your own heart.
In order to receive the gifts of God, sometimes we have to leave things behind.
I am not saying that going off of Instagram is the only way… I’m sure many of you have a healthy, disciplined relationship with social media… I just haven’t met you yet. It’s not the only way to enter into a deeper sense of rest, but I am convinced it’s a very good place to start… it’s a good way to make space. It's offering so much up to God at once… your identity, your time, your attention, and feeling known and part of something bigger than yourself… only to have all of that given back to you but with the real thing, not the candy-version.
If you know your Father is good, abounding in love and faithfulness (Exodus 34:6), than this could be an exciting invitation!
But if you’re not so sure, perhaps you need to take some time to get to know your Father’s heart for you. . . that He adores you, that He has GOOD in store for you, a plan for your life, and relationship with Him. Look at the Bible as a story and pay attention to what He says about Himself and about you, His child.
His world is much bigger than the internet, more exciting than Tik Tok, and He has already given you the greatest gift … Himself.
Let’s not have FOMO about social media. Let’s have FOMO about this soul-nurturing rest I’m talking about. Let’s not miss it. Let’s make room.
What do you sense God' is calling YOU to give up to make room for Him? I invite you to pray and ask God what it looks like to walk YOUR path of obedience.
My path may not look the same as yours, but chances are there are a few of you who needed some encouragement and permission to hit that eject button.
Go ahead! At least for a season. There’s something better in store.