Rest that Works

finding rest and joy during the holidays

Dear Friend,

The holidays can afford rest, but they don’t have to.

I’ve been searching for rest for a long time. When a holiday (or vacation, or weekend, or a free afternoon) is coming, I get excited—I know it means I have an opportunity to finally rest. But when the time comes, I almost always find myself feeling more anxious and less at-rest than I was before.

In my daily life, I feel constantly rushed and at-risk. I want to feel rest. I keep looking for it externally—a holiday, a financial milestone, relational harmony—but when the milestone comes, I don’t feel any different. In fact, I often feel more anxious.

Holidays actually become a real problem for me, because they expose my inability to rest as a “me” problem, not circumstantial.

My mind looks to external milestones for a moment of rest, but what I really want is a life of rest—not one where I’m periodically “tanked up” after being stressed, but one where I’m at rest all of the time.

And I think I’ve found an better way—or at least a hint of one: enjoyment.

If I’m working and enjoying it, I feel at rest.

If I’m enjoying a weekend or a holiday, I feel at rest.

I keep looking for “rest” as if it’s simply the lack of movement. But the lack of movement isn’t rest, it’s death. It’s also boring. Of course my system is going to gravitate away from that! But enjoyment… that’s another thing.

The rest I’m looking for feels deeply enjoyable.

It feels like a deep breath. Many of them.

It feels like slowing way down—becoming methodical an a way that makes everything enjoyable.

It’s a quality of life I’m looking for, not a situation.

I’m looking for rest… not just “rest,” as in less work—I’m looking for rest that works through enjoyment. Rest characterized by enjoyment. I think I’m looking for joy.

I’m hoping and praying for a deep sense of rest and joy for us this holiday season.

—Nathan