Daily Beauty, Day #12: Rest

Much of our time is filled with action. We rush, we flit from one thing to the next, engaging in endless activities. Our lives are consumed with doing. But perhaps they should leave a little more room for being. I think that at our centres we need to incorporate a spirit of rest. Without this rest- true rest- we will always be hurrying, running from one place to another, always in motion even when we are standing still.

If we have a foundation of rest, then “busy-ness” can only ripple our surface. Stress and outward circumstances may pose challenges, but they cannot take away our peace. They cannot disturb or distress the calm that is ours alone, the calm that transcends this world and reaches above all earthly motion.

But we have to create this culture of calm within our lives and within our hearts. Problems are inevitable occurrences that loom largest against the future’s horizon, and fade with the passing of time. None of them last, because they cannot last… because nothing lasts except the One who does not change and cannot fail.

We live in a culture that praises the problem-oriented, the busy and the stressed. But I don’t think this is beautiful or good. I don’t think our worth lies in the things we do, and I don’t think we are less for doing less, or for taking the time for ourselves. People are afraid of silence. Is it because silence can communicate honesty and truth in a way that words cannot? Are we afraid to be alone, to not be busy, because without the background noise, there is nothing left but what is?

Take the time to be still. Do not be afraid of silence, because in silence there is beauty, even if it is painful or frightening at first. If we give ourselves this time to re-centre, to re-attach to what is good and true and to refocus on what is beautiful, then we can carry this with us throughout the moments of fast-paced action and problems. The problems will no longer seem so important when they are put in perspective, paling in comparison to the everlasting arms that lead us through them.

But we need to take the time. We need to make the choice. To make peace with silence. To allow it flow through our soul and pervade into our daily lives, rather than just a few separate moments.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” -Matthew 11:28