yesterday i took a nap.

it was a spiritual experience.

slumping toward the end of a task-driven week, i found myself irritable and unable to focus – not unlike my 3 year-old, whose afternoon nap is often the deciding factor between a pleasant family dinner and an evening of gnashing teeth.  for this reason, we preach to him often about the importance of rest: how it makes his Superman muscles big, how it grows him tall as daddy.

those of us seeking to follow the footsteps of Jesus would do well to learn how important our own “nap-times” are to our spiritual growth.  many times each day, the ugly that i discover in my heart is pure theology:  my fallen, selfish state, begging grace and then falling again.

i think, though, there are other times when i wax philosophic and ignore the simple: that i need rest. that this body was created with batteries that need recharging.  that even the Almighty, after weaving the universe into being, rested.

so simple, but true.

when i snap a snippy response toward typical 3-year-old behavior, it may be true that i need to  pray for patience … but it may also be true that i need  an earlier bedtime.

God created our bodies with needs – physical, emotional, psychological – and we miss out when we don’t see how those needs are tools that he uses to restore and refine us.

as you wind into your weekend-ing,  why not slow the pace a bit?

there’s a time to pray and to worship and to reach out and help those who are hurting … and there is a time to rest, so that the doing of all of those good things might be experienced in exponents of energy.

there’s little chance i’ll get another nap today, but i’m intentionally clearing some space on my Sunday calendar to just sit and hear birds and feel wind and be still.

how about you?   where do you find rest?