Learning How to Rest is Hard Work!

My husband, Jano, and I are taking a class at church to learn how to rest. I know. It sounds absurd that we need to be taught how to rest, but we do. I had no idea learning to rest was so much work! It’s supposed to be easy, right? Not for me. Not yet, at least. But I’m working on getting better at resting. 😉

I confess, whenever I go to an appointment to meet someone, I usually take something to do in case I have to wait for a few minutes before the meeting starts. When I go on vacation, I always take my laptop (and way too many notebooks) so I can get some work done one the airplane/car ride or during downtime in the hotel. The other day, I went to the beach for two hours and lugged my laptop in case I had time to get a few things done.

This behavior seems normal to me—to be productive every moment. Not to waste time doing nothing. But thankfully, God is teaching me a new normal.

He’s teaching me that resting is not a waste of time, but will actually enhance what I do with creativity. He’s teaching me to surrender those few moments and just wait. To be at peace just resting in Him rather than filling up every moment by doing things. I have to admit, resting in God, or just plain resting is not my first instinct. I’d rather be reading something, sorting through snail-mail, or getting through that huge stack of email in my in box.

Visiting the Past to Fix the Present

Jano and I have been practicing resting on weekends. On Saturday, we drove to meet a friend at Stanford for lunch. Afterwards, we strolled over to see the site where the old Meyer Undergraduate Library used to be. When I was at Stanford in the 1980’s, Meyer was affectionately known as “UGLY,” which was short for UnderGraduate LibrarY.

Being back on campus brought back a flood of memories. As an undergrad, I used to do the “nerd walk” from one library to the other. Green Library, the one with comfy chairs that cradled me to sleep on sunny afternoons, closed at 11 p.m. So after a short nap and hours of studying, I’d walk with other students out of Green and up the steps into Meyer to get in one final hour of work. The nightly exodus from Green to Meyer became known as the “nerd walk.” Like thousands of undergrads, I put in tons and tons of hours of studying in that building.

http://stanfordflipside.com/2014/09/meyer-library-to-be-replaced-with-meyer-library-memorial/

Years ago, I’d seen the demolition of Meyer, but had not gone back to see what they’d built in it’s place. When Jano and I arrived at the reconstructed site, I was amazed.

What I saw is not at all what I expected.

I assumed they were going to replace “Ugly” with another beautiful library or study hall. But to my amazement, it was a beautiful park now know as Meyer Green.

Every act of creation is first an act of destruction.
– Pablo Picasso

While we were there, we met up with a family friend who also just happens to be learning how to rest. She’s a 3rd-year Stanford undergrad and is making herself take a Sabbath from 6 p.m. Friday night until 6 p.m. Saturday night. She told us how tempting it is to get a few things done while she’s resting. Thankfully, we caught up with her during her Sabbath so we could all practice resting together on the Meyer Green lawn.

Jano and I marveled at how the old building, which represented work, was replaced with a gorgeous green lawn and expansive landscaping representing rest. God will often have people revisit a place in their past so He can yank up old roots and tear down old ways of thinking. Just like Meyer Library was demolished, God is wrecking our old ways of thinking so we can rest in Him. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, He is constantly restoring us and renewing us.

Right now, Jano and I are two messy construction zones being rebuilt and beatified by the Holy Spirit. No telling how long it will take before the remodel is completed. But guaranteed, there will be lots of purging and healing on this journey of surrender.

To read more on resting in God…

1) Click on the link below to read a blog by my daughter, Ariana Banks. She taps into our deep need for rest by highlighting issues many of us struggle with: performance and perfectionism. Freedom In Surrener: Pressing into Hard Things

2) Read Bonnie Gray’s new book, “Whispers of Rest,”  a 40-day devotional on learning how to rest in Jesus.