Finding deep, soaking-to-your-roots rest.

Is your rest like a light shower of rain or like the deep, soaking kind? I’ve been thinking about this again in my own life, particularly as I prepare to talk on phone addiction at a MOPS group next week. It feels ironic to be asked to give this talk right now as my phone use has been out of control again of late. Maybe it’s the best timing for it as I am forced to stop, evaluate and relook at the strategies that have helped in the past. So much of it comes down to the kind of rest I need versus the kind of rest I engage in.

It is easy to distract ourselves, binge on mindless entertainment or scroll through social media and kid ourselves that we are resting. There may be a degree of reprieve that comes with that but it is like a light shower of rain that hits the surface, provides a little refresh but fails to sink deep to the roots. We need that deeper, soul-roots rest to restore and recharge fully.

So what can give me that soul rest? Why have I slipped into the easy surface level rest once more? I can look back over the past few weeks and acknowledge the mental load I have been carrying, the disruption to routine with first my daughter being sick and now my husband and me too. I can acknowledge those realities in my life and then choose whether I allow those to be excuses that keep me trapped or indicators that I need a higher degree of intention to find the spaces for deep rest right now. I don’t know what life looks like for you right now. Maybe you need to acknowledge some realities in your own life and make that same choice moment by moment in your day.

Soul roots rest for me comes in the early morning quiet with a candle, coffee, my journal and a Bible. It comes in swimming laps or walking around parks. It comes in going to bed earlier, writing, reading, spontaneous dance parties with my daughter, and even in staying organised. Your list will be different from mine. This isn’t a comparison exercise! This is me reflecting and reminding myself of what I need in my life regularly. This is me encouraging you to do the same.

What will you do this week to find deep, soaking-to-your-roots rest this week?