Winter break just ended in our household. We’ve been at it for two weeks. I always look forward to this time of year. I enjoy the slow speed of winter when sports come to a pause and school can be set aside for a minute. I also don’t have to pack lunches every day, which is a bonus. As much as I long for and crave the opportunity to rest after the craze of Christmas, I struggle to stop. Rest is not easy for me.

Typically, I look at these breaks and try to find ways to fill our days. I have three VERY active boys that need motion. They are like puppies. They need their daily walk or we all go a little crazy. I also have a tendency to feel guilty when I stop moving. For some reason I have convinced myself that busyness equals purpose even though I know that is not the case. Our culture tends to run this way: they busier you are, the more successful you must be. If you are busy, you must be a good mom. If you are busy, you must be a hard worker. If you are busy, you must be entrusted with a lot of responsibility. And on and on and on.

I am learning, however, that busy does not equal value. I am also learning that value can be found in rest. We all know that God rested on the seventh day. If God saw fit to rest, than it must hold some importance. Rest does not always mean a good nap or doing nothing, though. Rest also refers to reset.

 “Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 55:6 (ESV)

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)

Reset is a necessity. When God wants to do a new thing in and through us, we need a reset. We are like our routers. Sometimes our souls need a reboot in order to function more efficiently in order to tackle the next project.

Resetting can feel like we are not working; we are being lazy. When, in reality, resetting is a whole lot of work. Resetting ourselves means we must surrender the old to make way for the new. Resetting entails trust: trusting God’s next move for us even when we can’t see the pieces and where they lay. Resetting means we stop what we are doing and be still in order to hear from God. Resetting means we move away from the norms of this world and culture, retreat if you will, and stop long enough to feel the promptings of the next season.

Resetting, while a form of rest, is no rest at all.

During my workouts, we often do what is called “active rest”. Active rest means that while we are trying to bring our heart rate down, we are still moving. When I am at my boxing class, our active rest means we are doing burpees, jumping jacks, or high knees for our active rest when we are off the bag. While this is a nice break from the intensity of boxing, it is still hard and challenging. Reset is similar. It is an active rest. Resetting requires action from us.

We all need to reset from time-to-time. We need to allow space for God to do a new thing in us as Isaiah talks about. We need to make room for God to peal away the old to make room for the new like Paul talks about to the church in Corinth. And this means we must stop for a hot minute and make way for rest.

Reset is a necessity for the health of our souls and the sake of our futures. 

Let God restore and reset you through rest. Make room for reset. Your soul longs for it.

Love & Blessings,

Meg