I Don’t Know About You, but I Need Some #Rest

It’s finals week in my world.  And as I’m frantically writing tests and grading final assignments, my students are, well, stressed.  Of course, any motivated teen is stressed about doing well on the final and maintaining their desired GPA, but this year is different.  What are they stressed about?  Well, I guess the first question is, what are any of us feeling during these trying times?  Whether we admit it or not, we are all asking the same questions: 

What is this next year going to be like?

Should I plan anything?

Is it a good idea to travel right now?

When can I resume regular social activities?

Or better yet, will things return to normal, ever?

After an especially grueling week in my College Writing class, it dawned on me exactly how much extra stress my students are under.  The level of uncertainty they are dealing with during their senior year is unprecedented, barring generations who graduated during the Vietnam Conflict or related situations, of course.  Graduation, prom, sports events, summer jobs, college-none of it is for certain. And the general state of the country?  That hasn’t looked too promising for a while now. 

I’ll admit.  I am the number one advocate of as much normalcy as possible.  I want schools open, businesses running, people working, regular worship services, all of it.  And I have operated that way as much as possible in the recent months, but as much as I march on like a reliable steam engine, the truth is, I’m tired, really tired.  I don’t say it, but I’m under duress.  It is as if I have been in one long winter, cold, dark, oppressive.  A winter that won’t seem to end. 

I’m done pretending.  I want to maintain what normal life I can, but I need to admit how I feel.  And I know I’m not the only one.  The stress of this year is taking its toll.  So, what do we do now?  Now when circumstances might change, but we’re not exactly sure when or if or how.  Fortunately, God is in the business of rest.  Not the kind of rest after the source of stress is already eliminated, but the rest that happens in the middle of the storm, when the waves are still crashing in, disrupting plans and lives, rest for the truly weary. 

I’m always comforted by the Psalms.  They remind me that I’m not the only one who feels overwhelmed, weak, helpless.  During an inquiry into Psalms about rest I found the following:

“It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he (God) gives his beloved sleep” (Psalm 127:2),

And,

“In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety” (Psalm 4:8),

Or,

“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way . . .” (Psalm 37:7)

And of course,

“Be still and know that I am God.  I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalm 46:1).

There is rest in God.  There is rest for our weary souls. Right now.  Even in such unpredictable times. It is time.  Time for me to admit my exhaustion, and seek the kind of rest only God can give.  What better source to turn to than the God that gives peace “not as the world gives” (John 14:27), but the kind “which surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7).