This Christian Life

Rest Your Weary Head

I was putting my 1 year old son down for a nap. He was tired and I knew it. So I picked him up and held him as I often do in my arms with his head tucked in one elbow and his feet under the other arm. He usually responds well to this method because it puts him in a horizontal position and calms him down.

But this time, he was resisting the hold because he knew the next thing he’d be doing was lying down in the crib. As tired as he was, this did not seem like a good idea to him. But as his father, I knew better. I understand what happens when he doesn’t get enough rest during the day. He becomes more tired, weary, and crabby.

As I was standing there holding him I wondered, ‘Do I resist rest?’ When my soul is dry, when my spirit is weary, do I take the rest I need, or do I resist it? Why do I fight the thing I know will only benefit me in the long run? The “rest” might come in the form of meditation, reading, talking with my spouse, talking with God…

The funny thing is, as I always discover, the time of rest just works. It’s not until afterwards that I remember why I needed the rest.