Rest
Wednesday, January 21, 2025
Several years ago, I took a class at my church on the origins of racism in our country and the church’s role in it. Until that class, I didn’t realize how intertwined racism and sexism are with the industrial revolution. Before the 1800s, people worked to survive. Now work seems to be the very way we define ourselves.
Rest is countercultural.
You are not your work. You are so much more than that. You are here to receive and make beauty. You were created in love and are invited to create love. You are more than a mind. You are a body and your body needs rest.
What comes to mind when you think about rest? Is it something you long for? Is it a word and practice you avoid?
Rest is resistance. It reminds you and those around you that you are worthy of more than work. Rest reclaims your time as your own and says that not every moment needs to be productive.
Rest resists the monetization of time itself. It looks like learning to embroider not to open an Etsy shop, but to occupy your hands and your mind. It looks like reading after dinner instead of checking your work email. It looks like taking a walk and leaving your phone, watch or other device at home… the walk still happens even if nothing is counting your steps.
Where do you resist rest? How can you see it as an act of resistance instead?
Where in life can you take the easier path?
How might living rested change your outlook?
Are there moments of your day you could spend resting instead of numbing?
Book Corner:
What I’ve Been Reading Lately
via personal library:
My Friends by Fredrik Backman
No one writes like Fredrik Backman does. Like his other books, My Friends is full of beauty, laughter and pain, woven together in a way that is true as only a novel can be. This is a novel about art, friendship, childhood and family. I loved the encouragement to go through life looking for those who are “one of us.” That will be different for each person, but it will mean we all find our community.
via library loan:
A Forbidden Alchemy by Stacey McEwan
After reading My Friends, I wanted something I could read quickly and digest easily. This fantasy fit the bill. I’m about a third of the way through and I like the way a good fantasy novel helps me see my own world more clearly.
via audiobook:
Good Company by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
I don’t often listen to novels as audiobooks, but I had some lengthy drives recently. I borrowed this to keep me company. I wonder if I would have liked it more via print copy. I found the main characters whiny and largely unlikable. For parts of it, it felt like we were getting to a topic worth considering: all this particular woman gave up to be a parent. But it felt like we just skimmed along the surface of what could have had some depth.
In Kiltumper: A Year in an Irish Garden by Niall Williams and Christine Breen
I knew Niall Williams is a wonderful novelist. Turns out he writes a great memoir as well. What’s even better is that he and his wife narrate this audiobook they wrote together. My takeaway so far is that a garden is never finished… and isn’t that a lovely thing? Worth pondering on so many levels.
May you take a nap or a walk or have a cup of tea in the quiet this week. May you rest.
Peace & Grace,
Shannon
P.S. No one knows how to rest like a dog… hence the photos of my dog Luna to accompany this offering. May she inspire you to curl up with a blanket and someone you love.