How To Find True Rest
“Everyone needs to meditate fifteen minutes a day, unless you’re really busy. Then you need thirty minutes.”
This is a joke amongst spiritual seekers, about how the busier you are, the more self-care you need. But what if life’s most basic tasks seem impossible? As everyone around me prepares for Christmas, the dark December flares up my depression. I struggle to find the time and energy to eat breakfast and take a shower, much less do my job. A regular spiritual practice feels like another chore on the every-growing to-do list. I’m always tired, no matter how much I sleep.
Today’s Gospel offers us true rest through a change in mindset. Burnout occurs when we try to prove ourselves because our self-worth is attached to our performance. And since it can never be good enough, we set ourselves up for failure..
Throughout the Gospels, Jesus also is always tired. He constantly searches for time alone. Expecting miracles, people approach Him nonstop. But instead of snapping back, He stays humble, grounded in the knowledge that He is God’s beloved Son. Compassion fuels Jesus’ healing ministry. Take the miracle of the loaves and fishes as an example.
The light burden He offers us is our identity as children of God. We have worth because our Creator made us, because we simply exist.
What burden do you need to lay down? Perhaps a past experience that cannot be changed? An untruth? An unrealistic expectation? What grounds you in your identity as a beloved child of God? How does that reminder lighten your burden?
Susan Liem