What’s the Secret to Rest?
A Guest Post by Anna Kettle
Warm gentle breezes. The rhythmic sounds of a breaking surf. Washes of orange and blue painted across a sunset sky. The spray of salty water at your feet…
Everyone loves getting away on a beach holiday, but what if you could bottle up that feeling of rest, and live in it every day? Well as it happens, I believe that you can!
When I first began writing my new book about rest, ‘Sand Between Your Toes’: Inspirations for a Slower, Simpler & More Soulful Life’, I was caught in a season of over-busyness. I was working full-time in a busy marketing role, parenting a toddler, and juggling lots of other commitments too.
I often found myself feeling stressed out, over-extended and longing to slow down, but feeling unsure how to begin making the changes that I so desperately needed. And as a christian, I was aware that I was meant to be living in God’s rest, but what did that really mean in practice?
Like many people, I couldn’t just quit my job or take an extended sabbatical ‘off’ from my normal life. Instead I needed to find workable solutions for bringing rest right into my everyday life.
But thankfully, as I began searching through scripture for answers and watching how Jesus did it, I realized that I didn’t have to completely overhaul everything in order to experience a slower, simpler, and more soulful way of living. I just needed to start prioritizing rest in small, simple ways that fit my own context.
In Matthew 11; 28-30, Jesus said this:
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me. Watch how I do it. Learn unforced rhythms of grace.”
What an incredible invitation to follow his unhurried example!
Throughout the gospel accounts of his ministry years, Jesus was often in high demand there was always more need around him, yet he was never in a rush. Instead, he regularly withdrew from the hustle and bustle of the crowds, the busyness of the schedule, and the pressing tasks at hand, in order to rest, eat, pray, sleep, or just be with friends.
Despite the important kingdom work he had to do he knew how to live in these unforced, grace-filled rhythms of work/rest, but how do we find similar rhythms in our fast-moving world today?
Below are 6 of my simple tips to help you get started on making regular rhythms of rest a greater priority in your own life:
Start with the heart
Learning to rest is an inside job – it starts with a change of heart, not just a change of pace or routine. The truth is that it’s impossible to properly deal with the external symptoms of our busyness and hurry, unless we are first willing to deal with the underlining heart causes of our hurry.
Often this begins with stepping back and asking ourselves some hard, honest questions like: ‘Why am I so busy? What am I working so hard for? And what am I really believing about myself and about God as I rush through my days? Do I fully trust in his care, his provision, his goodness?
Start now
We often tend to think of rest as a luxury, or as a reward for getting all of our work is done in our culture – which means we end up turning it into something we only do when we have ‘time’. But the truth is that there will always be something else vying for your time; more laundry, more emails, more chores…
So if you truly believe that it’s important for your physical, mental and spiritual health, why not just choose to start prioritizing it now, and let some of that other unimportant stuff slide?
Start small
Sometimes we can also put off rest because we think it only counts if it’s a long break; a two week holiday or a three month sabbatical. But I have found that it really helps to also start thinking about rest in smaller, more manageable ways.
A great practice to begin with is trying to take small moments of pause throughout your day – and not feeling guilty for it! Even just pausing for 5 or 10 minutes between tasks in a space where you can sit and be still – or getting up and walking around if you’re already stationery – can help rest your mind and make you more productive overall.
Start planning it
We plan everything else in our lives - so why not our rest time as well? Personally, I find that if I don’t get really intentional about carving out some ‘down-time’ in my diary, often it simply won’t happen - and it will also be the first thing that gets pushed out as soon as other things start to crowd in.
Too often I think we tend to view rest as ‘empty’ space or ‘dead time’ in our culture, rather than seeing it as time intentionally set aside for investing into our own wellbeing, but the very act of diarying it alongside everything else can help us to value it more highly.
Start saying no
It’s so easy to get drawn into thinking we have to do everything, but often less is more. And in order to start saying ‘yes’ to prioritizing rest, it follows that we will also need to practice saying some no to some things too
Wisdom is choosing to do the right things - not everything! So try spending some time really thinking about what God is asking you to prioritize in this season, and then try turning down a few projects or commitments - even good things that don’t align.
Start making it fun!
This might sound obvious, but try to make rest fun! I am a doer by nature, so for a long time I actually avoided rest because I thought that being still sounded pretty boring! But rest doesn’t necessarily mean doing ‘nothing’; often it’s about doing something ‘else’ – something that isn’t work and feels restful for your soul.
So try to consider what re-energizes you, and feels life-giving? What gives your spirit space to breathe? Is it reading, running, cycling, painting, music, baking, gardening, getting out into nature, seeing friends? Whatever seems like the opposite of hard work to you - get intentional about doing it regularly.
Finally, if you need some more ideas to help you get started, my new book Sand Between Your Toes could be a great guide! To learn more, or download sample pages now for FREE, click here.
About the Author
Anna Kettle is a Christian author, speaker, and award-winning marketing professional.
Her first book, “Sand Between Your Toes: Inspirations for a Slower, Simpler, More Soulful Life” launched under Tyndale House this spring. It is a beautifully presented, beach-themed collection of inspiring devotions, hope-filled prayers, and practical tips to help readers to learn to live in God’s rest amidst life’s many complications.
Anna is a coffee lover, bookworm, travel enthusiast, live music fan, a keen foodie, a gatherer of people, and a big believer in the healing power of words.
You can find Anna at www.annakettle.com - where you can learn more about her new book, download some sample pages for FREE, and find lots more tips on learning to rest.
You can also connect with her on her social feeds at Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest.