Welcome to Day #23 of the Restoration Project.
I met today’s guest at the Speak Up Conference this summer. We had mutual friends who insisted that Caryn and I connect—we’re glad we listened. We stayed up late talking and brainstorming and getting to know each other. It is a joy to invite this lovely storyteller to share with you today.
Caryn is wife to her BH (Better Half), mama to two beautiful daughters, and Mrs. C to her elementary school music students. She’s an ordinary woman with an extraordinary story that she seeks to live out with purpose and joy. She enjoys cream with coffee, photography and cowboy boots. You can find her at carynchristensen.com
Finding Rest In A Busy World
At the beginning of each week, my BH (Better Half) and I sit down with our respective calendars and pencil in mutual activities into our schedules. Those activities include things such as going on a bike ride or going kayaking together and visiting his mom in the nursing home. We know that if we don’t deliberately set aside the time to do these things, even though they’re important, something else will take their place.
Most recently however, we’re discovering that we also need to pencil in “down-time” as well. A time for us to each slow down, be quiet, and rest from the week’s demands.
We’re finding that if we don’t consciously create margin, it negatively affects every area of our lives, mind, body and spirit.
Because my BH and I are complete opposites in personality, our definition of rest actually looks different for each of us. My man is an introvert, but his job demands that he lead meetings all day long. So when he comes home in the evenings, he desperately needs some time to himself where he’s not talking and can enjoy the quiet. He’s also a “homebody” and prefers to spend the weekends relaxing around the house as opposed to going out and participating in an activity.
Conversely, talking relaxes me! (Anyone else feel that way?) I feel connected and more at peace when I get to participate in conversation with another adult. And because I spend more of my week at home, I start to get antsy if I’m not physically doing an activity where I can let my mind rest and just have fun.
After 31 years of marriage, obviously, we’ve found ways to compromise.
Even with all of our differences, there’s one area where we both have a tendency to become completely exhausted. Information overload.
In a world that prides itself on instant-everything, one only has to turn on the evening news or scroll through social media, to get bombarded with (mostly negative) information. The result is feeling overwhelmed. My friends, we were never meant to know everything.
One of the most effective ways to rest is to unplug.
Unplugging sounds good, but sometimes hard to surrender, because:
*We feel the need to stay connected.
*We have a fear of missing out (otherwise known as FOMO).
*Underneath it all, we believe that with enough knowledge, we can control our circumstances.
It might help to know that Christ “unplugged” when He was on this earth by removing himself from the public and getting alone to pray (Mark 1:35, Mark 6:46, Luke 4:42, Luke 5:16, etc.). Even though Jesus was fully God, He was also fully man. He had a limited amount of energy and felt the same constraints on his time as we do, needing to rest (often) in order to fulfill His ministry here.
So this week, when we sit down to sync our calendars, we’re adding “unplug” along with our usual methods of obtaining rest.
Resting in Him,
Caryn
What are some of the ways you are intentional about finding ways to rest?
P.S. Get caught up on Days 1-22 of the Restoration Project.