We love Jesus… so why are we still dealing with these issues? In this series, we address how the gospel frees us from the shame associated with our daily sins and struggles, and then helps us overcome them.
By Heather Templeton
Photo by Heather Michele Photo
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
Exodus 20:8-11
For years, I prided myself on the “busy.”
The full schedule.
The late nights.
The climbing of the corporate ladder.
The paychecks and the payoffs and the perks.
And I loved it.
It was summer of 2009.
I had finally worked my way up to a job that was more than a job; it was a career. And it was my dream come true.
I traveled, I managed, I led, I worked hard.
And then… it all ended.
When I was five months pregnant with my first child, my entire district was eliminated through a company wide downsizing, and just like that, all I had worked to achieve was taken away.
I cried. Because it truly hurt.
As I sat idly in my house, no work to occupy my wandering mind, I didn’t know what to make of it all.
I felt life kick inside of me, and I was immensely thankful. This little boy was a blessing, and I knew he would change our lives.
But I had never wanted to be a “stay at home mom.”
And so I struggled. And that struggle lasted YEARS. Because I didn’t know at the time, but the Lord was starting something in me that I wouldn’t fully understand until summer of 2017.
You see … I lived for the busy.
I loved having a full schedule, a fulfilling career, and a sizable paycheck.
Those things had come to define me in a way I hadn’t realized until they were removed.
It wasn’t until fall of 2015 that my life came to a screeching halt when a neck injury literally stopped me dead in my tracks. I spent eight days bedridden from crippling neck and migraine pain, and begged the Lord to take it away. Slowly I recovered, but I realized that I would be unable to keep going at the pace I had been going. At this point, I had two children, was working full time, and had a home bakery on the side. I was exhausted, and I don’t think I actually realized to what degree until that injury happened. I went part time until summer of 2017 when my job announces that they needed me to be full time again. I knew in an instant that my time there was done. That I was to be home with my boys {all THREE of them at this point!}, and I said goodbye to working outside the home and hello to being a full time, stay at home mom.
It was incredible. And I felt free.
I knew I had made the right choice.
As I looked back, I could see the Lord weaving the tapestry of my work life throughout the years and bringing me to a point of full surrender and reliance on him.
Relinquishing the BUSY.
And relishing the REST.
It’s something I now pride myself on.
An emptier schedule, and a slower day to day existence.
Mornings with my sons, evenings as a family. Time to enjoy each other and bask in the rest that is such an amazing gift from our Father.
But I still struggle.
Managing a house and a family is INFINITELY harder than any job I’ve ever had, and it’s also so much more time consuming.
The laundry…
The dishes…
The sweeping…
The mopping…
It can feel unending.
And so business creeps back in, disguised as something “holier.”
I’m taking care of my family, Lord. It’s ok to work on the sabbath if it’s for my boys.
Oh but it’s NOT.
And it’s so incredibly important that we rest. The Lord himself said so, and what’s even more wonderful, is that He modeled that with the very act of creation itself.
Our God did not need to rest.
But He rested.
And he commands us to as a gift of love, because he knows we are finite and we burn out and we NEED IT.
So rest today.
Find beauty in the solace of sitting, of reading a book, of snuggling your children, of having a long talk with your spouse.
Trust me when I say, I am nowhere near a master of this yet.
But if there is one thing I aspire to do more of in 2019, it is this: do LESS.
Will you join me?
Let’s sabbath together, and thank the Lord for such a gift as rest.
Happy New Year.
Grace Enough 