What’s your idea of a restful day? Mine is being home alone when it’s gray and raining, curling up on the couch with candles, chai, books, and a movie. But what does rest actually look like for you? I often bedrot or doomscroll, and then, as the day ends, I panic-clean or cook just so I can say I did something.

Rest is a simple word, defined by Merriam-Webster as freedom from activity or labor, absence of motion, or peace of mind and spirit. But when we ponder it, rest really isn’t so simple. If I’m going to snuggle on the couch, I’d rather read something than fall asleep, because why waste all that time? And I’d better have done something to justify snuggling down in the first place. Our thinking is skewed, because we’re starting with the premise that rest is laziness.

But is laziness restful? Bedrotting and doomscrolling makes me stressed and guilty. And remember, Merriam-Webster said rest includes peace. I could lie around all day and feel no peace at all.

But I have so much to do! How can I rest when there’s floors to sweep and emails to read and calls to make and laundry to fold? And I have to figure out when I’m going shopping, and make sure everything fits in the budget! I should really take a walk after I do the dishes, and maybe if I have time tonight, I can watch Doctor Who. But I have to be in bed by eleven!

Do you ever wish you were a kid again? Life was so much simpler when the countertops towered over our heads and the backyard felt like a football field. We sang the ABCs into the box fan and licked raindrops off the screen door, and our biggest stresser was not being able to tie our shoes. The world was small but everything in it was enormous.

Now the world is big and everything in it is small. Last Saturday, because I was resting, I took a walk. I felt lonely, homesick, and stressed, and the walk just reminded me of when I was little and could run carefree for hours. In a bit of a temper, I asked God why couldn’t things be as simple? 

And then I thought about it some more and remembered I still had chores and school when I was a kid. I worried about learning to ride a bike and sleep with the light off and go underwater without crying. The world was probably simpler in many ways, but that didn’t mean it was easy. I just filled my busy day with rest. And I forgot that I often rested by pulling my siblings up the stairs, screaming, because we were mountain-climbing and their tether broke.

So I challenge you not to rest only when you’ve done everything else first. Put in your best effort each day, and then when you get home or when Saturday rolls around or when you finish cleaning the kitchen, leave the rest of those thoughts and tasks for the next day. Each day has enough trouble of its own (Matthew 6:25-34). And don’t restrict rest to candles and soft music. Remember my mountain-climbing story?

Worried about being lazy? You’re not wrong. “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied” (Proverbs 13:4, ESV). But rest is not laziness. God Himself rested after six days of creation, and commanded us to keep the seventh day as a holy day of—take a guess! You need those hours in every day, and that day in every week, and maybe even that week every few months, in which you remove all the ordinary noise.

Surrender your worries. Come to the Lord. Write someone a letter. Make a batch of cookies. You’ll be surprised to find how much you can do when you’re not focused on doing it. God promises in Isaiah 58 that if we take pleasure in rest (particularly on the Sabbath) and focus on His way instead of ours, then we shall delight in Yahweh, and we will ride on the heights of the earth (Isaiah 58:13-14, ESV).