Find Rest

Find Your Rest

We make no farming decisions, plans, or dreams for the future in the months of September and October. After a summer full of before-dawn to after-dark days of farm chores, making and hauling hay, moving pastured animals, preparing and traveling to farmers markets, and working in at least a little fun here and there—well, we’re tired.

And we are crabby. We are ready to be done with all of it.

We chase the fleeting daylight as we literally lose minutes each day while our fall to-do list continues to grow.

By November, we are worn out. But our work is done: we have sold, hauled, and processed all of our meat animals and are left with just the breeding stock. Our chores are about ten percent of what they are in the summertime, and we can sit back.

Our friends and customers often say, “You guys work so hard!” And we do, for about six months. Then we take the remaining months to rest and restore.

It would be completely unsustainable for us to work that hard year-round. We could not grow great food, serve our customers, or steward our piece of God’s creation well without our time of rest.

A time of rest, a Sabbath, was built into the very fabric of our creation. God rested on the seventh day of creation. He required that the Sabbath be observed by the Hebrews in the Old Testament.

Our working season is ended by the weather. Whenever the snow falls and stays is when we are done working outside. This generally happens in the month of November. We cuddle up in blankets, we start our woodstove, we play board games, and we read.

This practice of slowing down—some might call it hibernating—restores our souls. After a month of rest, we are ready to discuss the past growing season with a clearer perspective and happier hearts rather than burning it all down in frustration and exhaustion.

In the New Testament, Jesus taught the importance of rest. In Matthew 11:28-29 he says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 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” (NIV).

Jesus was instructing us in the importance of not just rest, but rest in him. Being busy, working hard, and stress are not twenty-first-century problems. We are promised trouble in this world. Jesus says in John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (NIV).

In each of our lives, there is a busy season, but we must also have a season of rest. In Mark 6, the disciples had been working hard in ministry. When they returned to Jesus to report on their work, he could see their exhaustion and told them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest” (NIV).

How can you find rest? Perhaps you cannot take six months of the year to slow down, but what can you do to build in margins of rest?

In order to build in times of rest, we need to create more time and more space in our lives. Dr. Kevin Leman, well-known psychologist, uses the term “Vitamin N” and recommends we use a daily dose. Vitamin N is the practice of saying “no.” Use it generously to find that margin.

The transition from fall to winter is an excellent time to also transition to times of rest. Every year, we bemoan the busyness of the holiday seasons, yet we do not slow down for fear of disappointing someone. That fear eliminates our margin for rest, and we tell ourselves “after Christmas, we’ll slow down and take time.”

If not now, when? When will we learn to rest our bodies and our spirits?

Find Your Rest

David struggled with finding God in his busyness. In Psalm 46:5-6, he says, “Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance” (NIV).

David learned that God was where he could find his rest. The boundaries of walking and working with God brought him joy.  Verse 9 continues, “Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure.”

What is restful for you? Maybe it is a cozy blanket and candles, a run through the woods, or a dinner out? I have a list of rest ideas that I use monthly; it keeps me mindful of my need for rest and to make the time.

In our lives, the weather signals our time of rest on the farm. In our home, cozy blankets, flickering candles, board games, and books signal us to rest. Our bodies respond to these signals. What signals can you use to communicate to your body or your family and friends that you are resting?

Annie Carlson, Contributor to The Glorious Table is rooted like a turnip to the plains of North Dakota where she raises great food, large numbers of farm animals, and three free-range kids with her husband. You can find her with either a book or knitting needles in her hands as she dreams up her next adventure.

Photograph © Priscilla Du Preez, used with permission

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