☁️ Rest: The Gentle Way of Grace
Invitations to live outside the tyranny of now.
Sun warmed my shoulders. Sea mist tickled my nose. As I sat along the Pacific Ocean listening to the waves roar like thunder, I felt myself actually…exhale.
The only prayer I could muster was thank you. Thank you for the beauty of creation. Thank you for letting me marvel at it. Thank you.
I had nowhere to be and nothing to do except sit with God and breathe.
I didn’t realize I had been holding my breath for so long.
Resting reminds us what it feels like to live freely and lightly (Matthew 11:28-30) without the weight of urgency. I didn’t realize how long my body had been in overdrive. Didn’t realize how loud the low-level hum of stress had become.
It’s easy for me to believe that survival is the same thing as living. Slowing down to watch the waves crash into the shore began to turn down the volume of the noise within my soul.
Maybe you’re thinking: Well, sure, rest is great and easy when you get to go to the beach. But for 99.9 percent of the time, rest is hard.
And I’d say yeah, you’re be right.
But rest isn’t just for a privileged few, found only on fancy vacations. Rest is available to us right now. Right where we are. We don’t have to buy it or chase it or earn it. We just have to receive it, like the air we breathe.
As we see in Scripture, we were made to rest.
Rest is not an escape from reality but a return home to our truest selves—and to the One who made us and is making us whole.
Just a few days after my time on the beach, I was back in the Midwest, smack dab in the chaos of real life. Groceries needed purchased, laundry needed washed, and emails needed replies. And of course, amidst my ever-growing to-do list, my elementary-age kids were having a “Leadership Day” at school.
As I sat in the back of the classroom, third-graders milled about, excited to present to us. The students began to walk us through the Franklin Covey time management matrix—four little quadrants meant to help us prioritize our lives:
Urgent and Important
Not Urgent but Important
Urgent but Not Important
Not Urgent and Not Important
When the teacher asked which quadrant we should try to live in, I instinctively knew the answer. It was obvious. Number one: Urgent and important—clearly, that’s where life happens.
But then I looked around and saw a sea of little hands holding up two fingers.
That’s so cute, I thought. But these kids are so wrong.
“Yes, class!” their teacher affirmed. “Quadrant Two!”
I almost choked on my Diet Dr. Pepper I’d snuck into the room.
Not urgent, but important.
That’s where soul work happens. That’s where presence lives. That’s where relationships are nurtured, beauty is noticed, and prayers are whispered without rush.
And isn’t that what Sabbath invites us into?
We live in a culture dominated by the tyranny of now—a term used by Lt. Col. Shawn Smith to describe the increasingly common demand for immediate responses and actions, often at the expense of thoughtful, deliberate decision-making.
Our calendars are full, our minds are noisy, and resting our minds, hearts, bodies, and souls with God is often put on the back burner.
But God’s invitation has never changed:
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. (Exodus 20:8, NLT)
Sabbath is not a reward for finishing your to-do list or an annual beach vacation.
Sabbath is a way of remembering—and being remembered.
A drawing near to the One who whispers that your worth is not in what you produce.
On the seventh day, God rested. Even Jesus paused to breathe, to be.
Sabbath is an undoing of the knots productivity culture tangles us in. Sabbath is the posture of a child climbing up on the lap of a Parent and doing nothing except resting in the arms of Love.
When everything around us shouts at us to hustle, living unhurried is hard.
Getting quiet enough to listen, to be still, to order our priorities that reflects the wisdom of third-graders, isn’t valued in our culture.
But I’m not a machine And neither are you. We are soil And breath And soul. We were made To flourish, Not just to function. To abide, Not just to achieve. The One who Breathed life Into us Invites us To exhale. Rest helps us Check our breathing. Rest reminds us We are still alive.
May you find a quiet moment this week to consider this: What would it take for you to let go of the pressure to live in the walled quadrant of URGENT and IMPORTANT1? What would it take to loosen yourself from the tyranny of now?
Take a deep breath.
And as you exhale, remember this truth:
Rest is not a reward. Rest is the way back home.
May Reading Guide
This simple weekly reading plan brings together timely prayers and reflections from my books To Light Their Way and Every Season Sacred for May 2025.
Thank you again to Kara, a reader and member of this community, who so generously put this together!
Recommended Words
Some articles/essays I’ve written that might speak to your heart.
If You’re Looking for Jesus, Let it Go: You are never more fully yourself than when you are with the One who formed you from the dust — the One who is whispering a thousand resurrections into your life, if only you’ll look and let go. (incourage)
Why Arthur Means So Much to Me and My Kids: When “Arthur” hit bulky square-box television sets in 1996, I was in third grade — just like Arthur Read and his friends. I had long checked out Marc Brown’s books from the library, but now Arthur’s world had come to life in a new way. (PBS KIDS)
Slow My Racing Heart: Yet, I do believe no matter how exhausting our lives are, the Spirit whispers a different invitation into rest that is accessible to everyone: One where rest is not an escape but an embrace by the One who sees our unseen labors and unsaid needs. (Year of Breath)
Also…I’m going live with Tanner Olson at 11 am CT on Tuesday. I’ve never done a Substack Live before, so I’m sure I will say or do something to make it go off the rails. Join us for some conversation on prayer and writing! (It’ll be entertaining at the very least.)
Borrow this Prayer
From my newest book Every Season Sacred. (May I suggest stocking up for Mother’s Day?)
God, our lives are loud Help us to get quiet So that we can hear You more clearly. Help us to add rhythms Of rest into our days. You lead us to quiet waters And invite us to be still, Reminding us that all beauty And glory and power are Yours, And Yours alone. We admit that sometimes We make things into little gods, Like what we accomplish Or the entertainment we consume. But You invite us to be still And know that You alone are God. In Your mercy, You invite us to rest, To simply breathe.
Year of Breath
If your soul feels stretched thin or your brain is begging for a pause, this one’s for you.
Keep reading for a gentle, grace-filled Sabbath practice guide, five breath prayers to anchor your week, contemplative reflection prompts (including two just for weary parents), two Scripture passages to reflect on, and a benediction to help you rest in what matters most.
Of course, you’ll receive a playlist for the week and a wallpaper to save, too.
Thank you for supporting my work. As always, if finances are preventing you from joining, please reply to this email for a scholarship.
Breath Prayer
Weekly Breath Prayer
INHALE: I am not what I produce.
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