true rest

From my Instagram:

When I hear Christian women complain about exhaustion I often wonder if they are using the God-given tool of the Sabbath.

Bringing this up, however, may result in infuriation: “And how, exactly, am I supposed to ‘do no work’ when I am a wife and a mother?!”

Ah, and there in lies the lie.

We need to see our calling as wives and mothers separately from the work we do as caretakers of our homes. (And yes, of course they are connected, but hear me out…)

The fact that I am a wife and mother can no more be separated from my identity than the fact that I have blue eyes. It is who I am. Additionally, I don’t want to be separated from it.

I can, however, take a break from my housework duties of sweeping, dishes, cleaning chicken coops, laundry, etc. 

Yes, I still need to feed my people and make sure they get ready for church. And this takes some planning ahead. I need to be diligently doing the duties of laundry before Sunday so they have clean clothes for church. I need to make extra food earlier in the week so that we have leftovers to eat on Sundays. I need to tidy the house well on Saturday so that it is easier to relax on Sunday.

I do not take a break from being a wife or a parent. I am always doing the parenting tasks of working on attitudes with my children, helping them to keep short accounts with one another, etc.

But Sabbath is a day set apart. A holy day of rest from work. When I lean into God’s promise of Sabbath rest, I am blessed with true rest.