The Best Rest

Think for a minute about the best rest you ever had. 

What was it like?

Was it a time of quiet and peace after a long and busy week? Was it a night of much needed sleep? Was it a time with family and friends that brought encouragement and refreshment to your soul?

When our culture thinks about "rest" a number of things often come to mind: sleep, not having to-do's, vacation time, off the clock time, or binge watching Netflix, or doing something all together restful and refreshing like a hobby. We have a lot of ideas about rest, and a lot of people even dream about taking time for rest and refreshment, planning vacations months or years in advance or even guarding a Saturday with nothing to do. 

But if we're honest, these things often do not turn out to be restful. We guard Saturday to rest only to find out that our car needs to go into the shop or another pressing matter comes up. We spend time planning vacations only to get sick while there, or we need a vacation when we come home from our vacation that has been fuller than we expected. We spend hours binge watching a show, only to be reminded of the laundry we didn't do or the tasks that didn't get done. Things that we expect to be restful actually turn out to not be very restful. 

We wonder if we ever will experience true rest and refreshment. 

But then we catch glimpses of it. When our heart is encouraged after serving a neighbor. When we listen to a beautiful song. When we have a rare moment of quiet. When our plans change and we're free to explore before an appointment. 

Our hearts want rest after working heartily, but it often alludes us. 

Or we haven't experienced rest in a while and it makes working hard even harder. 

What if I were to tell you that heaven will be the best rest you have ever experienced, but it will not be a rest without joyful and fulfilling work? 

The Lord's rest will be a rest unlike we have ever experienced. 

We'll learn more about it tomorrow.