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Joy

A Summer of Joy! {Free Printable}

Rebekah Freed

The last few months have been rough.

Just as spring break started (which normally kicks off of the easier half of Spring semester), we unfortunately experienced the loss of one of our students at the university where I work. It feels impossible to put into words how that situation and many other challenges one after another in March and April have impacted me and my team.

It’s time for rest.
It’s time for healing.
It’s time for sunshine and slower rhythms.
It’s time for summer.
It’s time for joy.

It’s time for FUN!

With May beginning tomorrow and our school year officially wrapping up next weekend, I spent some time yesterday brainstorming what fun could look like for me this summer. Just last weekend I had a chance to share with a group of middle schoolers about how much we hear Jesus talk about joy. Sometimes I need to remember it for myself.

I fully believe that God delights when we delight.
Fun reminds us of Eden.
Fun reminds us of eternity.
Joy matters to Jesus.
And this summer, part of healing from the pain and trauma of a really hard year means chasing fun and joy.

I already had a few bigger fun things on the calendar or in progress to look forward to in the months ahead, but yesterday I decided that I didn’t want a single summer day to pass without some intentional fun.

I’m determined every day from May 1 through the end of July (and hopefully even beyond) to do at least one thing just for the sake of fun. Some might be bigger things to plan ahead for (like a pottery class I signed up for today.) But I imagine many days it will look a walk around the neighborhood with a friend or eating a bowl of ice cream on the back deck. Big or little doesn’t matter, we’re just on the hunt for the joy of Jesus.

I made myself a (fun) calendar to help plan out ideas or to document the joy being found. I figured I might as well share it with you as well.

Summer of Joy Calendar 11×17 [May-July Version]
Summer of Joy Calendar 11×17 [June-August Version]

One of my favorite authors, Annie F. Downs has a children’s book titled, “What sounds fun to you?” and that is my question to all of you today.

Obviously what sounds fun to one person may not to another but below are some of my ideas that might get you started to brainstorm your own list. And if you’re local, let me know if one of these things sounds fun to you too and we can do it together. (For real, I’d love to hang out… fun in community multiples joy!)

  • Kayaking/paddleboarding (already have my Lincoln Paddle Company Punch Pass!)
  • Eat ice cream (at least once a week)
  • Take a pottery or photography class
  • Game night with friends
  • Get a pedicure
  • Go to a Smash Room
  • Go on walks with friends
  • Plant flowers
  • Visit my family in Wichita
  • Hiking and picnics at 2 new state parks
  • Maybe meet up with KC fam in Omaha or Nebraska City
  • Summer Vacation
  • Hike Niagara Gorge
  • Hopefully continue the hunt for the best wings in Buffalo with my ‘daughter’ Elisa if we both can make it there at the same time
  • Hike at Fontenelle Forest
  • TreeRush Adventures
  • Spend at least 250 hours outside
  • Women’s Retreat at Platte River State Park
  • Thrifting
  • Stay a night at Two Rivers in a Caboose (maybe with my nieces?)
  • Swing on a swing
  • Invite myself along on adventures with friends’ families
  • Saltdogs Baseball Game
  • Enjoy my fire table out back at least once a week
  • Wednesdays in the Park with Church Fam
  • Wander around Target, Hobby Lobby, or other favorite stores
  • Spend time laughing and playing with my nieces, godkids, or friends’ kids
  • Find a new coffee shop in a little town on a rainy (or really hot) day
  • Read on the back deck
  • “Aunt Bekah Camp”
  • Shoot off confetti poppers
  • Explore a couple new restaurants
  • UPick flowers or fruit
  • Go to all different Farmers Markets
  • Take a walk downtown
  • And the list continues

I’m ready to have some fun.
Whose ready to join me!

Lent, Prayer

Can I Just Get a Little Space?

Rebekah Freed

Have you ever had a situation with a friend or family member in which you hit a point in the conversation where one or both of you just needs to hit “pause” and get some space. You need to go to another room and continue the chat at another time. This could be in good situations, but often these things pop up in conflict or hard seasons.

The hope is not to walk away forever, but just for a moment, to take a break, maybe to calm down, to regroup your thoughts before engaging again.

A couple weeks ago I had one of these situations, except it was with God. I had a conversation with a mentor that afternoon that involved some conversations about and with God that were good, but hard. Then, I went to church in the evening and the conversations with God continued as His Word was spoken and we responded in prayer as a group. Individually, the dialogue continued as a I wrestled with what God was up to in a few areas of my life.

As I walked to my car to drive the 40 minutes home, I have to admit, I was at a point like I described above where I just needed to “go to another room” and revisit the conversation with God at another time. We’d been talking for hours at this point and I felt my soul just needed a break. Yet, as soon as that thought crossed my mind, some other words came to mind as well… words from Psalm 139… a psalm filled with words that I’ve been working all year to memorize, to hide in my heart. In this moment though, I stubbornly wished they would have stayed hidden…

Where shall I go from your Spirit?
    Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
    If I make my bed in the depths, you are there!

Psalm 139:7-8

Not quite what I wanted to hear in that moment.

You can’t really “go to another room” with the God of the Universe. While I do think God is gracious to give us space when we need it, the other truth is He’s always there whether we like it or not. He can’t not be there. He’s God.

Just like in the situations I described in the first paragraph, even with God I think there are times when some space is good and healthy. Time away can provide opportunity to come back to a conversation refreshed, it calms emotions, and helps us think and communicate more clearly. But in this situation with God, and in some conversations with humans, the desire for space may also be us running away at the first sign of discomfort.

I fully believe God would have been okay with me finding some completely unrelated podcast, distracting myself, and ignoring Him for a while. And later on that night I did give myself some space, but in that moment as I started my drive, I also sensed an invitation before me.

I didn’t like what I was hearing or what my heart was feeling. I didn’t like seeing my sin and struggle. I didn’t like hearing myself name the ways I was feeling disappointed or hurt by God. Even the good parts I just didn’t want to talk about anymore.

Again, I think God would have graciously let me return to the conversation later, but His Spirit also brought those verses to mind as a way of inviting me to stay in that messy hard place. It was a reminder that I didn’t have to get myself together or have my thoughts all figured out before I journeyed further in the conversation with Him.

He was offering to sit with me as I drove home and listen to it all.

He gave a different kind of space. Instead of distance, He provided a safe space to be real and honest and vulnerable. He brought other psalms to mind where the authors were way more confused and scared and upset than I was in that night. He showed me, that even in moments when I wanted to walk away, even if just for a moment, He never would.

In a world where we are quick to dismiss others when the slightest hint of conflict appears…

In a culture where any slight misstep gets you cancelled…

In environments where tension is avoided at all costs and we’d rather write off relationships instead of staying in the hard conversations and sticking in it through to the other side…

In those places, we realize the stark contrast of a God who stays and says, “I will never leave you. I’m not afraid of conflict. I’m not afraid of your anger. I’m not worried by tension. I’m with you. Always. I will see you through to the other side.”

He’ll never push Himself on us, yet, He also won’t give up easily. He’ll show up, again and again.

Whether the fact that God is ever-present feels like a gift or an annoyance today, may it lead your heart into a place of peace. In that space, may you know His hand is leading you, holding you. Always. Forever.

Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast. (Psalm 139:7-10)

Bekah's Heart, Poetry/Songs

Conflicting Calls

Rebekah Freed

I don’t understand
how the call of Jesus can be so clear,
yet so confusing.

The call is grace.
Compassionate eyes seek us out and embrace
even the most broken place
of our souls.

When sin & despair,
loss & suffering,
hopelessness & addiction,
threaten to overtake,
our Savior steps in.
He covers it all.
Freedom is the call.

Yet, with that call comes another:
To look after each other
To give beyond our limits
To sacrifice.
There’s a cost,
a price.

And my heart is unsure
how to piece it all together.

The calls are simultaneous,
yet a paradoxical tension appears.

Give everything.
Receive everything.

Come & rest.
Lay down your own needs for others.

Just come and be with Me.
Go. Be with them.

Pray. Wait. Trust.
Work hard at all you do.

But perhaps it’s more of a rhythm than a contradiction.
Like tides coming in
And going out.

We give because we receive.
We’re able to sacrifice because we first know the depths of grace.
We learn to meet the needs of others
from letting the Shepherd meet ours in a place of rest.

Movement and rhythm.
Back and forth.

We come and eat.
Then, go and feed.
We come and rest
So we can invite others in
to a space of grace.
We come and see
And go tell what we’ve seen
Who we’ve seen
The One who sees us.

I’d still like it all to be a little more clear.
But for now, maybe it’s enough to know:
We can’t do this call “wrong”,
if we’re listening to and following
the Shepherd’s voice.

Keep calling, Jesus.
Keep calling.

College Ministry, Lent, Prayer

“Surround Me” – Lent Week 2 Prayer and Scripture Reflection Guide

Rebekah Freed

Series Note: This year I got to write some prayer guides/reflections to be used in Lenten prayer stations in the chapel for the students, faculty, and staff at the university where I work. They are based on sections of Psalm 139 connected with scenes from Jesus’ passion week journey to the cross. I hope to share some of them here.

READ: Psalm 139:5-6

REFLECT:

After supper, Jesus shared some thoughts with his disciples. We hear these final words with his friends throughout John 14-16. See the pictures below to read through some of the things He said. Imagine what it was like for the disciples to be there hearing these words on that night before Jesus’ death.

What thoughts come to mind as you read those things that Jesus said?

After spending some time with those thoughts, read John 17, a final prayer Jesus has with and for his disciples.

In the Psalm, we hear the declaration that God “hems” us in. It gives this image of surrounding us, going before and behind us, protecting us. It seems Jesus is doing that for his disciples as well in His final words of John 17 too.

He’s telling them what to expect.
He’s preparing them.
He’s reminding them of all the things they’ve learned over the last few years together.
Near the end, Jesus turns His attention to His heavenly Father and pleads for Him to protect, unite, and provide for His disciples.

In the final verses of the prayer though, Jesus’ attention turns to “those who will believe in me through their word…” (vs 20)

That’s us!
That’s you!

You are one who now believes in Jesus because of the work of those first disciples!

In those moments, Jesus was already praying for YOU!

To borrow some words from Psalm 139:6, the knowledge of that truly is “too wonderful” for me to comprehend!

PRAY:
Jesus, thank you for going before me, going all the way to the cross.
Today, please go before me in these areas:
(Write down areas where you need God’s protection, provision, or guidance.)
Go before me to lead the way.
Go behind me to protect me.
Sit with me in moments where I can’t even comprehend you.
Surround me.
Amen.

RELATED SCRIPTURES FOR FURTHER STUDY AND REFLECTION:

Exodus 13:21
Hebrews 12:1-3
John 14-16

College Ministry, Lent, Prayer

“Know Me” – Lent Week 1 Prayer and Scripture Reflection Guide

Rebekah Freed

Series Note: This year I got to write some prayer guides/reflections to be used in Lenten prayer stations in the chapel for the students, faculty, and staff at the university where I work. They are based on sections of Psalm 139 connected with scenes from Jesus’ passion week journey to the cross. I hope to share some of them here.

READ: Psalm 139:1-4, John 13

REFLECT:

The first few verses of Psalm 139 recount many details of what God knows.
John 13 reminds of many of the things Jesus knew as well.

Jesus knew that his hour had come.
Jesus knew that the Father had given him power.
Jesus knew what was about to happen in the next few days… his suffering… his death.
Jesus knew that the disciples would all flee.
Jesus knew that Peter would deny him three times.
Jesus knew that Judas would betray him.
Jesus knew.

And still…

Jesus knew all of those things
and still, he served them, washing their feet.

Jesus knew how his disciples would get scared & run
and still he took time to teach them.

Jesus knew how his closest friends would hurt him,
and still he had dinner with them.

God know us, too.

He knows what we’re feeling when we sit in our dorm room or office.
He knows when we’re being honest… or not.
He knows what stresses us out when no one else does.
He knows our deepest needs and our greatest joys.
He knows.

It seems we all long to be seen, to be known.
It’s one of our deepest human desires.
How comforting to hear in Psalm 139 that the God of the universe knows everything about us!
He knows what our future holds even if we don’t.
He knows what we think and feel.

Yet, sometimes to be completely known feels overwhelming or even scary.
Maybe there are things you wish God didn’t know.
Maybe you, like the disciples have run away, denied, or betrayed those you love or even Him.
Maybe being known by God brings shame instead of comfort.

Whatever the case may be today, we find hope in the fact that Jesus knew what His disciples would do and still spent time with them anyway.
The same is true for you.

God knows. Everything.
And still… He loves you.
Enough to die for you.

PRAY:
Even though God already knows everything, He still loves to engage in conversation with us. Spend some time in prayer about the scriptures and reflection provided. Here is one potential prayer prompt:

Jesus, you know (fill in the blank) and still, you love me. Amen.

RELATED SCRIPTURES FOR FURTHER STUDY AND REFLECTION:

1 Corinthians 13:12
John 10:14, 27
Exodus 33:12-17
1 Corinthians 8:3

Lent, Prayer

Known – Lent 2023

Rebekah Freed

As part of my work at the university where I serve, I get the joy this year of helping plan some aspects of our campus-wide journey through Lent alongside our campus pastor and the students of our campus ministry team.

This year Psalm 139 will be the main reflection for all our students, faculty, and staff for the 40 days (plus Sundays) leading up to Easter, focusing specifically on the word “KNOWN”.

What does it mean to be fully known by God?
How can we know his story on an even deeper level?
How can we make Him known through our lives?

When my teammate informed me of this theme near the beginning of the semester it caught my attention because it was a passage I was already planning to explore a lot and try to memorize in 2023.

I’ve had a lot of time the last few weeks to explore this powerful prayer of David on my own and in the process of creating some weekly prayer stations that will be up in our chapel space. Every time I read it, the words get richer and richer. I hope this is a space where I can share some of what I’m learning on my own as well as some of the prayer prompts and reflections I’ve written for my students and teammates.

Each week with the prayer stations we have include a short two word prayer to frame the week. This week’s prayer is “know me” based on the first 4 verses of Psalm 139:

“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.”

As I’ve prayed this prayer and explored these verses this week, something struck me:

“Know me” is not only the cry of our hearts to God, but also of His to us.

Here’s a little more about that in a prayer I wrote earlier this week:

“Know me.”
It’s a prayer, but kind of an odd one.

For sure, I desire to be known by You, God, deeply and fully. But it’s odd because it’d be impossible for You not to know me.

As this psalmist recounts You already know me, down to the number of hairs on my head.

You know how I’ve failed You this last week and you know when I’ve faithfully followed.
You know my tears.
You know my joy.
You know things hidden so deep in my heart that I don’t even know them.
You know my fears.
You know my hopes and longings.
You know when my heart explodes with gratitude and celebration.
You know the ways I serve that no one else sees.
You know the ways I sin that no one else sees too.
You know.

And still… you love me.

Perhaps a better prayer this week would be to help me know YOU.

I want to search Your heart and know everything about You!
I want to watch where You sit and rise and know Your thoughts.
I want to travel along where You go and rest when You rest.
I want to know Your word, Your voice, completely, Lord.

Know me this week, Jesus.
Yes I pray that.
But even more, let me know You.
What a wonderful miracle that You allow us to know You.
May we get to the end of this season of Lent able to say we know You more than we do today.
Amen.

Bekah's Heart, Devotional

Contentment and Longing

Rebekah Freed

I love my life.

It’s true.

I love the way I get to use the gifts and experiences and skills God gave me in my work each day.

I love all the little kids in my life including two nieces and six other godchildren along with their siblings, cousins, and friends’ kids who bring me such delight and joy.

I love my quirky little rental home that provides a space close to work to retreat and welcome others.

I love my church and the authentic, treasured community I found there with people who walk with each other in the highs and the lows of life.

I love the college students I interact with everyday. Seriously, they are incredible. They are insightful, caring, passionate, and insanely talented.

I love the friends and family who sustain, support, and sharpen me… and just like to hang out and have fun too.

The last few months I have noticed how content I am in life right now. There are deep blessings growing in and around me I could have never imagined.

I love my life.

And… I don’t.

That job I feel is such a good fit… sometimes it’s completely overwhelming and just too much.
Those kids… I don’t get to see them all near as much as I’d like and some days, intermingled with the joy of their presence, is a longing for children and family of my own.
My home… its quirks stand in stark contrast to the dream house I walked away from a few years ago in the process of moving to Nebraska and it has some space limitations that limit my ability to host people in the ways I desire.
My cherished church… is 35-40 minutes away from my home. This makes it hard to invest and connect in all the ways I’d desire and means that some of my closest community is not actually geographically close.
My incredible college students who blow my mind every day with how awesome they are… are also college students. Sometimes I wonder if they’re using a single one of their brain cells when they make decisions.
Family and friends… well, they’re human, and relationships are hard, and we hurt each other.

In this place of contentment, there is also deep longing and desire.

Until recently, I wasn’t sure what to do with this seeming paradox. At some points in life I thought that it just meant I must not actually be content. More recently, I felt sure that they could both be true at the same time, but it still didn’t quite make sense and I didn’t have words to explain it.

However, a few weeks ago I was in a situation where a section of Philippians 4 was shared multiple times over the course of an hour. I have no clue how many times I’ve heard this somewhat well-known section of Scripture throughout my life, but on that night it was as if I heard it in a new way.

… I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Philippians 4:11-13 (emphasis added)

I always knew this section was about contentment, but I had never noticed the reality that Paul never said his contentment came without any longing or need. Rather he said that he was content in want… in need… in hunger. Right smack dab in the middle of longing, contentment was present. Contentment and desire are not opposites; they can exist right alongside each other.

As I prayed and pondered this for a few days, a fuller picture came into view. Those hard things, those things I wish were different, are not automatically signs of discontent. Sure, those things (or even “good” things) could lead my heart to a place to discontent. But the truer reality is that both the “good” and the “bad” list above are all together collectively my life, my story.

A content heart is not one that never longs for things to be better or different.
Rather, it looks at all of life–the joys and the sorrows… the hard days and the delightful ones… the pain and the relief–and says, “Somehow there is peace here.”

And like Paul, we too can learn the “secret” of this kind of life:

I can do all this… through Christ. (vs 13)

Left on my own, this heart would choose discontent and bitterness every step of the way. Yet, each day my Teacher shows up on the scene helping me learn, again and again: I have enough and am enough because He is enough.

Jesus, You do not give to us as the world gives. You give peace. You are enough. You are all we need. You satisfy fully. And yet, when we find ourselves with desires and longings and needs in this life You do not shame us. Instead, You invite us to show up with all of it and talk to you about it. And somehow, in that space You show us how to hold it all with deep contentment and peace that doesn’t even seem possible. Keep teaching us today, Amen.

Bekah's Heart, Devotional, Just Write

Planning Peace

Rebekah Freed

“… Joy fills hearts that are planning peace.”

Proverbs 12:20b

What might it look like to plan for peace this week?
Peace in relationships?
Peace at work?
Peace in your mind or heart or soul?
Peace in your home?

Is it something practical like planning ahead for dinner on a busy night to decrease stress or anxiety when that busy moment comes?

Is it crafting in little 5 minute moments (or 1 minute even) where you can just stop and connect with Jesus, notice how you’re feeling, and invite him in to whatever activity is taking place?

Is it choosing words carefully with your family member/friend/teammate in order to add peace instead of anxiety or conflict to a situation?

As I ponder what “planning peace” may look like (and why that brings joy) I’m struck by all the things that are the opposite of peace. There are many antonyms. It could be strife or discord in community. It’s a restlessness in our souls. Distress in our mind. Anxiousness in our emotions. It could even me a messy or loud house that feels in-peaceful.

While in one way that seems overwhelming to think of all the ways we can experience the opposite of peace, it also gives us many areas, big and small where we can start planning for it.

For me this morning, that planning starts as simple as believing peace may be possible this week. To trust that the Prince of Peace is on His throne and on the scene in my life. To hope that peace might settle in a little more into my soul, into relationships, into my work and my play… and that as it does, it might bring with it a little joy.

Bekah's Heart, Blog News, Just Write

Places Matter – Here’s to Writing Again

Rebekah Freed

This blog has been a little neglected lately with so much of my time and attention taken in the last couple of years by a new job and grad school. Now that graduation has passed and I find myself with a little more time here and there, my hope is that I can return here more often.

Last week I had the chance to vacation in a town I called “home” for 9 years. Visiting with friends who have become like family, exploring favorite spaces (and a few new ones), and eating familiar foods was so good for my soul.

It’s also always a little weird going back to a place that once was home, but is no longer. Things change. People change. We change.

My favorite coffee shop that I would frequent on my days off is now closed.

The church where I served has so many new members and new staff.

The parks I frequented look completely different (or were seemingly impossible to enter for my now unfamiliar mind due to changes to parking and roads).

As I wandered along the Niagara River, a spot I visited probably over a hundred times in the not-quite-a-decade I lived there, I was overwhelmed by this concept of how places are just places YET places matter.

I found myself pondering the hundreds of miles I had walked along that path with friends. Conversation after conversation drawing each relationship closer. I thanked God for those friendships, some of which are still close and some with people I never really get a chance to talk to anymore, all of which have changed in some way since geographic location no longer allows us to quick meet up for a River walk.

I thought of my exchange daughter and the way this path was near her school. It runs past an ice cream shop where her best friend worked, where we shared many ice cream cones. I recalled the day, a year and a half after she left that, she came back to America without me knowing and worked with some friends to surprise me when she joined our picnic.

I thought about the thousands of prayers I prayed in the years I lived near this place and would walk here multiple times a week. Joyous moments, heartbreaking moments, hundreds of little seeds of hope planted in situations of my own or people I love. And as the sun began to set, I recalled hundreds of past sunsets and this truth settled in to my heart:

Places matter.

They are just places. They change. People come and go. Yet, the things that happen there, the memories, the slight little shifts in heart and mind (whether for the good or bad) do indeed shift us, shape us, form us.

That’s what THIS little place, this blog has done for me over the years as well. In some seasons I showed up here daily and others only a few times a year. But through time, through the writing and the sharing and the mistakes and the celebrations, this little space of the internet has shifted things in me, shaped me, formed me.

I’m not sure what it means to return to this place after nearly two years of neglect. I’m different. My life rhythms are different. I don’t know how often I’ll write and I fear saying I’ll come back here often and then actually not doing that.

But for what it’s worth today. I’m simply reminding myself that this place matters and I hope to start showing up here more often again to see how it grows me as I have grown.

To memories made and memories yet to be captured.

To processing life and sharing what I learn.

To not having all the answers but journeying through life in the hopes of stumbling into some together.

To reminding myself once again that there is joy and blessing to be found in this life and it grows when we share it!

Welcome home… to myself.

Bekah's Heart, Mental Health

Rest While You Work

Rebekah Freed

By now most of you know I love Sabbath and talk about it a lot. I also know that there are times and seasons when it looks different. Sabbath looks different for me as a single woman than my friends who have toddlers running around or have kids in sporting events. Also, there are moments, like the couple of weeks I’m currently living in, where if I were to try to actually get 24 hours away from all work (my job, grad school, housework, outside commitments) I would actually be more stressed out and less rested.

This is where this concept comes into play: if work is necessary, consider if there is a restful way to do the work.

The kids still have to eat and the tasks still need to be done and crises still occur. Just because work is required does not mean we just give up all hope for Sabbath.

For me today, finding a restful way to work meant taking my homework to my favorite coffee shop in Lincoln. My normal Saturday routine involves doing my grad school homework with various house chores scattered throughout the day as my study breaks. I normally can get that all done by dinner and Sabbath until dinner on Sunday. However, last week and this week I have to work on Sundays. I did cut out some tasks or worked hard to get some of the housework done early. A block of 24 hours of rest is just not possible this weekend. (And forcing that feels WAY too legalistic.) I still can be intentional with my time in a way that leads my heart into rest even if my mind and body must still work some of that time.

Sabbath isn’t just a day, it’s also an attitude. It’s a way of life that says “I am not God”, a space to remember who I am and what is real. So, at times, I can trust God to bring that rest even while I work or seek it in the way I work.

I can find joy and delight in Him as I settle into a corner of my favorite coffee shop with a warm chai, a yummy breakfast treat, and sunshine steaming in the window while working on homework.

I can use study breaks to journal or read a favorite book instead of clean.

Maybe you can plan a fun, special, EASY meal in your work of feeding kids.

We can stop by a park between errands or pause work tasks to go for a quick walk.

Perhaps it’s the type of work that feels more restful. Last spring I needed to be at work on a weekend the day after graduation for RAs to turn in supplies and keys. I needed to be in the office but I didn’t have a specific task required besides being present and available when someone walked in. I used that time to redecorate my office, something that felt refreshing for me. Rest in the work.

I try, and hope I always try, to fight for space and time every week to step away in Sabbath. It’s important. It’s Biblical. It guards me against sin. It restores my joy. It strengthens me for the work ahead. I hesitate to even share this because the concept of “rest while you work” can easily feed or even justify our cultural push toward overworking.

But 24 hours for Sabbath is not always possible in this fallen world. It does not look the same in every season.

In those moments, we seek the attitude and mindset of rest and cling to truths like this in Exodus 33:14, where God says to Moses, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Sometimes we get to stop and rest. Other times God goes with us and gives rest along the way.

With all that in mind, what does rest look like for YOU this week?