They Are Watching How You Rest

Anybody who has carried ministry knows what that means without my explaining it. The needs do not stop. The phone does not stop.

But somewhere in there I started doing something on purpose. I took trips. I let myself enjoy beautiful things. I made room for joy that had nothing to do with serving anybody. And I did not fully understand at the time what I was giving my children.

They learned that their mother was someone who could experience joy. Someone who loved beauty. Someone who could rest. I did not teach them that with a lecture. I taught it by being a woman who could enjoy her own life in front of them.

There are people watching you more closely than you know. They are watching how you handle joy. Whether you allow yourself to rest. Whether you believe you deserve anything beautiful. And here is the hard truth: what you model for them matters more than what you tell them.

You can tell them a thousand times that they should rest. But if they watch you run yourself into the ground, they will learn that instead. And worse — they will learn that that is what love looks like. So a daughter grows up believing a good woman is a depleted one. A son grows up believing a man is only valuable while he is producing. Nobody ever said those words out loud in that house. They did not have to. It was demonstrated daily.

Genesis 2:2 says, and on the seventh day God ended his work and rested. God rested. The Almighty, who does not get tired, stopped. He was not recovering. He was modeling. He set a rhythm into the first week of creation so that everything after would have a pattern to follow.

Then in Exodus 20 He wrote it into the commandments right alongside do not murder and do not steal. We have somehow decided that nine of those are serious and one of them is optional. God did not present them that way.

And watch Jesus. Nobody has ever had a more legitimate reason to skip rest. Real crowds. Real sickness. Real hunger. And Luke 5:16 says he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed — habitual. Mark 6:31 says he told the disciples, come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while. He commanded rest to workers under demand. And in Mark 4, in a boat, in a storm, He was asleep.

And Jesus enjoyed His life. His first miracle was at a wedding, making more wine so the party could continue. He was accused of being a glutton and a winebibber. 1 Timothy 6:17 says God giveth us richly all things to enjoy. God is not nervous about your joy. He supplied it.

Let them see you rest. Do not sneak your rest like it is a guilty secret. When you sit down, sit down out loud, so the people watching learn that a person can stop and the world does not end.

Let them see you enjoy something. The garden. The music. The long meal. The thing that has no purpose except that it is beautiful and you liked it. Ecclesiastes says enjoyment is from the hand of God.

Let them see you have limits. A child who never sees a parent decline anything will grow up unable to decline anything. Jesus said no. He left crowds that still wanted Him.

And when you get it wrong, say so out loud. I got this wrong. I am tired because I did not stop. Children learn more from watching you correct than from watching you be perfect.