Rest for the Weary
I think it’s safe to say that we all need some rest.
It doesn’t matter if you have the best class ever. It doesn’t matter if your personal life is going beautifully. We all are spread too thin, overworked, sleeping too little, and overstimulated.
It’s just the life of a teacher. If you’re a teacher and a spouse or a parent (or both!) you have double the stress in your life.
Because even the good things create stress.
Thanksgiving, for example, is great. I have no complaints about Thanksgiving. Except that we host over 30 people. And the house has to be cleaned. And the food has to be made. And details have to be coordinated. And why exactly am I the point person for the details when this is my husband’s side of the family, anyways?
Christmas is another one. The Christmas season is a wonderful time. It’s inarguably my favorite time of year. I love the magic I can create for my children. I love celebrating with my students. I love Christmas music and cookies and Hallmark movies and the lights of the tree.
But, golly, if it doesn’t also wear me out. The shopping and list-making and baking and events and report cards and parties and…and…and…
We all need rest.
So, what does Jesus say about rest? Many of us are going to be on Thanksgiving break this week. And although we’ll have plenty of opportunity for rest, few of us will probably get the rest that we actually need.
“28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
In this part of Matthew, Jesus can not win. The people of earth are just out there being…so very human. They see him eating a meal and they call him a glutton. He has a glass of wine and they call him a drunk. He performs miracles in multiple cities, and the people of those cities don’t repent or change their behavior at all.
He’s under the most intense scrutiny, and people want to find any reason that they can to say, “See? He’s just a regular dude. No reason to change our lifestyle for this guy.”
And that makes Jesus feel frustrated.
But then he remembers that, although his work is wearing him out physically, the work that he’s doing for God is the easiest path. Nothing feeds the soul like doing work that you are called to do. Jesus being fully human and fully God means that he can relate when we feel completely worn out by our work. He knows what that’s like.
But he also knows that the path of least resistance is the path of faithfulness. And sometimes part of that faithfulness is just making time to pray and tell God that you are craving some rest.
True rest isn’t just an extra nap, or a day off of grading (although those things are great, and please do them). The rest God offers is rest for the soul. Rest for the weary.
If you are feeling weary as you enter this season of Thanksgiving, tell Jesus about it. He’s going to get it. And He will tell you exactly what you need to do to rest your soul.
Dear God,
Help me to set my sights on your desire to take care of me. In the daily moments of stress and exhaustion, give me the ability to see the opportunities I can take to take better care of myself. Help me to find the moments where I can let something go without feeling guilty. Show me the opportunities that I have in my life to go slower, or to do less.
I know that your plan for me is not a plan of running myself ragged. Help me find the discipline to remember that my greatest need is connection with You. I want to put my relationship with You ahead of my work.
God, help me sleep each night, trusting that you have a plan for tomorrow. Worrying about tomorrow won’t prevent it from coming. But knowing that Your plan is already written will help me sleep.
Thank you for being a loving God who cares about the well-being of His people.
Amen.