Rest

“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.” -John Lubbock

Even God took a day of rest. So it is a little absurd that our society has decided we don't need rest. Living everyday like the next, hurrying through trying to get as much done as we can. Hurrying through the week to get to the weekend. Hurrying on the weekend to get everything done before going back to work. My husband and I call this do do. We are tempted to do do do do because we think it proves how important we are. Clutter in life is not only physical. Mental clutter needs cleared out as well. Even kids have baseball practices or games 7 days/ week now. An activity that was meant to bring us joy has become burdensome, tiring.

When we first decided we were going to practice a day of rest, I was fearful. I was anxious. I felt "stress". How would I get everything done in 6 days and not 7? Ridiculous thoughts entered my head like what if we need toilet paper? Where do those thoughts come from? I have no intention of going to the store on Christmas either, and I don't worry that I won't have toilet paper. We learned to be intentional. On Saturday I ask myself, do I have everything I need so that I can rest tomorrow? We learned to find out ahead of time how many practices being on that team entailed. We told our children they could choose only one activity and it could not take place on our day of rest. Luke chose art classes, they take place on Wednesdays.

When we began taking our day of rest, we discovered that this day of rest is the exact opposite of stressful. I don't have to sit in traffic. I don't have to stand in line. I don't have to pay for anything. Don't have to mow the lawn. No arguing with kids about homework. I can sit and read. I can go for a walk. I can take a nap. I can talk with family and friends. At the end of the day I feel refreshed, like a new woman. You might wonder how we get everything done in 6 days? We are more productive the other 6 days, thanks to that one day off. And who can't shave some time each day off of social media? One look at facebook or twitter or Pinterest tells me that the average person in our society does have some extra time.

The moderately minimalist family not only cleaned off our counters and our bookcases, we also cleaned off our schedules. We got rid of the do do. One day each week, we have just one task on our schedule... REST.