New Rhythms

Until this past September, I had spent the better part of fourteen years working 7 days a week.  We are a homeschooling family, which is a full-time gig all on its own.  In addition to homeschooling, I was teaching a full day in our co-op every week, as well as working as the children’s pastor at our church.  

These jobs filled my days.  There is so much beauty and goodness that came from this work.  But there were really hard and messy bits too - like working all of the time, pay inequity, and loneliness to name a few.  

In 2020 I knew that it was time to prepare to step away from my job with our co-op, as well as my job as children’s pastor.  It would take a lot of time and space to go into all of the details behind these decisions, but I will say that the transition for each of these jobs took about a year.  

September 5, 2021, was the first Saturday that I had been home in a very long time.  It was weird and wonderful.  I’m pretty sure I stayed in my pajamas all day and just enjoyed being with my family.  

It has been 5 months since my jobs have ended and I have discovered that rest is quite difficult for me.  It isn’t a practice that I’ve spent much time considering or embracing throughout my life, so it is one I’m learning now.  

I can look back at the fourteen years that I worked without resting with regret, or I can look at the years ahead as an invitation to settle into a new rhythm around rest that will lay a foundation for the future.  I choose to embrace the latter.  

There are two main Hebrew words for rest: 

• Shabbat - to stop working

• Nuakh - dwell or settle

We are going to dig into these words more in the weeks to come as we look at the invitation of Sabbath and the rhythm of rest.  What I know for sure is that rest is not a drudgery or a chore.  It has always been offered as a gift. 

This week I want to invite you to consider your ideas about rest.  Do you embrace it?  Do you avoid it?  Do you recognize it as a gift?  Does it feel impossible?  Do you have space for it in your schedule?  

I’m looking forward to our time exploring this practice.  I’d love to hear from you via email or over on Instagram with what you have embraced regarding this practice of rest.  Excited to learn and grow together.  

~  Melissa