I've never been accused of being good at resting. And you know who is even worse at it than I am?
Ryan.
We like order, not chaos, which is why scenes like this make us crazy:
Moving has been a giant test of our sanity. And it's tested Ryan's more than mine, since he's still been working full time throughout this entire thing.
It caught up with me first. I'm a writer, and I'm used to spending half my day at a desk, being creative. Two weeks of painting, wallpaper stripping, box hauling, and decision making left me hungry for creativity and just flat out exhausted from doing manual labor I'm not used to doing throughout the day.
My entire body ached, I couldn't keep my eyes open, and I felt like I needed to sleep for a week or two.
So I tried to rest. Tried to catch a 10 minute nap and slow down enough to let the aches work themselves out.
But Ryan never stopped. He worked hard all day, came home, and I could barely get him to sit down for dinner before he ran on to the next project. He hefted boxes, changed hardware, cleaned bathrooms, and did a million other little jobs on his way from one to the next.
So naturally, the day came when he strolled in the door after work and admitted he felt terrible. That his entire body ached, his throat hurt, he'd been sneezing all day, and whatever he just got over must be back.
It's hard to rest when you have so many things you want to do. I reminded him that we plan to live in this house for the rest of our lives, so we don't have to completely assemble it in one week flat.
We rush, rush, rush, and we shouldn't shouldn't shouldn't.
We should pause to rest. Pause to let our bodies catch up and our minds slow down. Pause to enjoy what's been accomplished so there can be an opportunity later to accomplish more and enjoy that.
God gave us a day of rest in every week, but that doesn't mean it's the maximum amount of time we can rest. It doesn't hurt to throw in a bit more now and then.
It's a lesson we haven't learned well, but I hope we eventually get the hang of it.
3 comments:
I hope you get to rest and enjoy your new home and the HARD work you've done!!
I'm obviously far behind on blog reading but God knows when I need to read a certain post of yours. And I really needed this one today. You have helped me make a decision about this weekend -- not a life-changing decision in the grand scheme of things, but a decision for rest and not adding additional craziness to our lives. So thank you for this.
Packing for winter is why we need more suitcases when we travel. Snow pants for four people is just a lot of volume. Also, it's weird to think of packing for winter when I'm listening to this in June and it's currently 27C (81F) outside. Add in the humidity and it's 92F when is why I'm wilting.
I could also take a month off work and never get everything done. There's always so much to do around the house. Gah.
RYAN DOESN'T LIKE BASEBALL?!?!?! Excuse me while I readjust my thinking here. Sadness.
Oh, I love vinaigrette dressing. And I can't stand Blue Cheese either. Yuck. Dave LOVES it.
Bekah, we are Lovers Of Coke twins. Coke is my downfall.
I knew that Ryan called Bekah "Awesome Sauce!" I don't know that I have a specific name for Dave which is making thinking that I should.
Dave had a used drinking straw collection when he was little. That is almost as awesome as the deodorant ball collection!
I would eat PIZZA all the time. Pizza and Coke -- we are such twins!!! And I also hate strapless. I don't like gum either.
I really like this game! You guys are so funny!!! And Ryan is so sweet :)
I thought Ryan's unique talent was burping!!! Ha ha ha :)
I love that idea of you don't necessarily "move on" but, because you have no choice, you "move." And I pray that I always "move" in the direction God calls me to.
Post a Comment