In reading 31 Days to Clean I was challenged with the idea – what will bring life to your home? As soon as I read the question I knew the answer for me – rest. Rest will bring life into my home: when I rest, it will bring life to my home.

Rest is so good for us, God constructed time and arranged it around us taking a day of rest. I’m reading “Celebrating the Sabbath” by Bruce A. Ray and since I have only just begun it I can’t recommend it one way or the other, but I found this concept very interesting – and I quote: “…natural scientists and historians have no good explanation for the origin of the week.” The author explains that we can observe the changes in the seasons by regular periods of warm, hot, cool and cold weather. Observations on the shape and movement of the moon have brought people to the conclusions of months. The sun comes up and goes down, creating days but there is no “historical evidence for the origin of the week according to Historians” unless you take Scripture as a historical source. “According to the Bible, we have the week because God ordained it, and indeed this is the origin of time and all its divisions.” (Read Genesis 1:3-5) Rest is a God thing.

I find it hard to close the office door or put away my to-do list because there are always things to be done. For those who are task orientated – as most of Western Civilization is – we are driven by completed tasks. We see value in the finished. And we won’t rest till we are done. But I don’t believe that mindset is in keeping with God’s views. In God’s mind there is a tomorrow, and there will be work to be done tomorrow, but he also requires us to rest. God would have us find that balance between work and rest – both are valuable, both have their time and place. Jesus confirmed this, saying that rest was for us, it was for our benefit.

So how can rest bring life into my home?

• Rest will rejuvenate me and I, as the woman of the home, influence the atmosphere and activity of the home. There is truth in the saying “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t no body happy!” My emotions, my energy, my attitudes will affect all in my household.
• Rest, or pause from work, will realign attitudes. Work, work, work gives the impression that our possessions or our projects are the most important. When we allow a pause from that we send the message that other things are important, maybe even more important.
• Rest will allow us time to enjoy the labours of our hands and in turn motivate to pick up tomorrow.

Rest is a part of God’s plan for a rhythm in life. There are two main times of rest in my life – rest at the end of a day, and rest at the end of the week. How easy we mess up that rhythm and we wonder why we feel tired, overwhelmed and unable to do the task at hand. Rest doesn’t mean finished – it means pause.

Over to you:

What brings life to your home? What changes do you have to make to let that happen?