Come to me, all you who are weary, and I will give you REST.  Matthew 11:28

 As a working mom, most of my days are pretty full.  I get up in the mornings in mom mode–make lunches, get children dressed, make coffee, arrange for some sort of semi-nutritional breakfast…you know the drill.

Then I get to work where I promptly move into teacher mode.  This includes frantically getting copies made, books located and a “plan” in place for the 11 groups of students I meet with throughout the course of the day.

After a brief respite on my drive home I am back into mom mode, with pick-ups, homework, piano practice and dinner.

After the kids are in bed and asleep I enter into wife mode, which usually consists of sitting in the living room with my husband and watching shows we’ve recorded on the DVR and stumbling off to bed after The Daily Show ends at 10:30.

So when an author who will remain nameless suggests in his book about pursuing your dreams that one of the keys to dream achievement is “hustle”, I want to drop the book down the garbage disposal.  Obviously, this guy does not live in the land of working motherhood!  Like most other women I know, I don’t have anymore hustle to give.  And honestly, I don’t know that I would give it if I had it.

One of the sad truths about our American life is that we’ve manipulated the concept of hard-work so that it has become an idol of busyness.  We like the “hustle”, regardless of how much we protest it.  There’s a certain adrenaline rush that comes from being busy.  There’s a high that comes from shoving 36 hours of activity into a 24 hour day.  We feel like we are conquerors in some epic life battle.

We run from one scheduled activity to the next, max ourselves out on projects with tight deadlines, sign up for any and every committee that’s being offered.  And we do this because, deep down, we think being busy gives our life meaning.  The more we “hustle” the more we are achieving.  And achieving, in our culture, means success.

And yet, God’s design for our lives could not be more different.  God doesn’t want us to “hustle” through our lives.  Rather, God says come to me.  Sit quietly in my presence.  Find your rest in my peace.  Be still.  Know me.  Listen.  Wait.

In repentance and REST is your salvation; in quietness and trust is your strength.  But you would have none of it.  Isaiah 30:15

 

When Jesus came to visit the house of Mary, Martha and Lazarus, he didn’t praise Martha for running around like a chicken with her head cut off (as my mother would say) trying to make a perfect dinner for these unexpected guests.  Rather, he praised her sister, Mary, who did nothing but sit and listen to him speak.

God doesn’t want us running around until our heads spin.  God wants us still, at His feet, listening to His Word, communing with Him.  God hardwired our brains for connection; connection with other human beings and connection with Him.  And when we get caught up in the “hustle”, we miss those connections.

And so, I say with the Psalmist:

Return to your REST, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.  Psalm 116:7

May you find REST today.

Blessings and Peace,

Sara