“Tina is done,” Claire said. She’s almost fifteen, and I’ve known her since the day she was born. As such, she knows me well too. We were at the end of a rather rowdy youth group meeting. The kids aren’t usually that chaotic. It was probably my fault because I’d introduced a game that involved a balloon and a ton of ball pit balls, so that even when I passed out some model magic to keep their hands busy during our discussion time, it didn’t calm them. So, Claire hit the nail on the head when she made her pronouncement.   

I’d had a lot on my plate emotionally because of my dad’s illness and some other outstanding issues. So, after youth group, I crawled in bed and watched a movie on my iPad, and all the guys in my house left me alone. My boys are used to me saying, “I’m done with this day,” as a warning that it’s time to settle down and go to bed when it’s getting late. But on this day, even though they hadn’t necessarily heard Claire and I hadn’t issued my day is done notice, they too knew that I’d had enough. I needed to rest.

Several of my friends and I have been talking/texting about how tired we are physically, mentally, emotionally. We are exhausted for a variety of reasons. And while finding time to rest is difficult, perhaps the greater obstacle is giving ourselves permission to retreat when we become overwhelmed. Instead, we soldier on, unwilling to stop because we think we will be considered lazy or unproductive. Stress is a marker of success in our culture, so we keep adding to our schedules. Succumbing to tiredness is seen as failure.

Unless we stop giving in to the false narrative that resting is a sign of weakness. What if we adopt the idea that rest is a key to being healthy and becoming strong? It makes sense intellectually. We know it is true. But what if we started living it? 

We are tired. I am tired. So, I’m going to cut this blog short and take my own advice. I’m going to rest, and I hope you do too.