He told me that my body would feel like garbage. He said that I might feel weaker and not stronger. He said that healing would be more costly than ignoring my condition. Despite this lackluster sales pitch, he emphatically called me to “Trust the process.”[1]
Process of Rest
I find it difficult to trust the process of rest. In theory, rest sounds great. But my schedule is busy—I am fine with resting when it is convenient and does not require giving up things I want to do or feel like I simply have to do. Rest seems more like an extra credit blessing than a routine practice that brings healing.
If I am honest, resting does not feel good if I have to give something up to practice it. I justify skipping rest until a convenient time when I consider it an optional antidote to fatigue. I find it much more difficult to skip rest when I realize it is part of God’s process to keep me healthy.
Forgetting Rest
“He has laid waste his booth like a garden, laid in ruins his meeting place; the Lord has made Zion forget festival and Sabbath . . .” (Lamentations 2:6)
The Book of Lamentations is not exactly a go-to book for encouragement about rest—but this verse offers an amazing reminder about the gift of rest. With the destruction of the Temple, God’s unique dwelling place (booth) was lost along with the unique time for communing with gathered worshippers. The loss of corporate worship led to the fading of celebrations and practice of weekly rest.
The loss of the Temple is punctuated by the loss of a healing practice for the people. No longer are they engaging in the restorative process of worshipping God in community and resting in His goodness. In fact, they even forget what weekly rest is like.
Forgotten Rest
We live in a weary world. Rest is elusive. In fact, we may have even forgotten what rest is truly like beyond an occasional relaxing day that we fit in our calendar. When we do not practice weekly worship and rest rhythms, we end up at risk of forgetting what rest is like.
My opening paragraph was about the difficulty of rest for a want-to-be runner like me. It does not necessarily feel good—even if it is the best thing for me. I am afraid of being left behind if I am not doing all that I can physically handle. I need to trust the process.
God has called us to a restorative, weekly rhythm of worship and rest. It will not always feel great. It is, however, the counter-formative process that keeps us oriented toward Him while living all seven days by His healthy design.
Trust the process. It is time that I embrace far fewer excuses that undercut the process.
[1] Paraphrasing a recent pep talk from my running coach, Eric Bofinger.