Daily Archives: July 2, 2009

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” — Matthew 11:29 (NASB)

Do you feel rested? I don’t know about your experiences, but being a Christian hasn’t given me less to do. To the contrary, I have just as much to do as my unbelieving neighbors and then some, thanks to church and ministries and personal Bible study and prayer times. I am not complaining! But I am seeking the rest Jesus promised. Have you found it? It seems everyone has too much to do, too little time and never enough rest.

The past Sunday was amazing. After a very busy VBS week, we just chilled. I didn’t do any laundry or housework. Rick and I both intentionally stayed off our computers. We played baseball in the driveway, read books, ordered take-out from Legal, built another cool GeoTrax city … it was an awesome day. A relaxing day. A restful day.

We don’t have days like that often enough. I’d wager you don’t either.

So here’s the question: how can we foster times like this in our lives?

Sunday felt to me like a mini vacation. When we think of vacation, we usually think of location. We get away from work and family and friends. We go to a beach or the mountains or some distant city. But this weekend we found all the peace of vacation right here at home. How? And how can I recreate that peace more often?

I don’t think it was related to what we were or were not doing. I mean, we play baseball with the kids all the time. We build a new train track every day. We read every day. Rather, I believe it was our focus, our intentionality of it. We purposefully did not think about our to-do lists. We chose rather to focus on our family and our God. We went to church and prayed together. We rested together, treasuring all the blessings God has given us right here.

Tomorrow I’m hosting a giveaway that deals with this very thing. How do we rejuvinate ourselves and our families on a regular basis? How can we tap into a sanely paced, God-focused life?

So what are your tips? How do you create peace at home?