Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you. Psalm 116:7 (NIV)

As I think back on the holidays, the stretch from Thanksgiving to New Year’s feels like a blur. Parties, gift buying and giving, travel, eating and cooking, and did I mention all that wrapping paper to clean up? Whew, just thinking about it makes me tired. It’s easy to feel like we need a vacation after the vacation.

God’s word, however, tells us to rest and be reminded of our blessings. I love how The Message translation captures this:

I said to myself, “Relax and rest. God has showered you with blessings.
Soul, you’ve been rescued from death;
Eye, you’ve been rescued from tears;
And you, Foot, were kept from stumbling” (MSG)

Rest doesn’t only mean physical, but also emotional and spiritual. Sometimes rest means finding a quiet place to reflect and spend time alone with God. Even Jesus urged his disciples to do this. I do not believe this happens by accident, I believe that in order to truly experience rest we must be intentional about it. Yes, I hear you, “Amanda are you saying I have to plan rest into my day”? That is exactly what I am saying. Otherwise, it will fall further and further down on our list of priorities.

Earlier this year our family took the first of what I hope will be many camping trips. There is a picture I snapped during our hike that I come back to in my mind. At a beautiful bend in the trail my daughter found a bench and laid down. She didn’t just briefly sit down, she laid completely flat and stared at the sky. In full surrender and abandonment to everything around her she said, “look at the top of the trees, mom, they are dancing” (referring to them blowing in the wind). I certainly would never have thought to describe them this way, or even to have laid down and looked up mid-hike. But this act of complete and total pause allowed her to see things she might not have seen otherwise. I can’t help but think the Father has so much to show us and tell us if we just stop, look and listen. We can’t do that if we are constantly in motion.

So this year, my resolution is to plan for rest of my mind and my spirit. That may look like starting my day with a devotional at my desk, or with a carved out time on my calendar for prayer or a conversation with God. I’m still working out the details, but the important thing is I am going to be intentional about it.

Students, consider how this intentional quiet time with God can positively impact your studies and the way you approach presentations, class discussions and projects. How do you plan to incorporate this into your life? What spiritual resolution could you consider this year? I would love to see your comments below.