You want to hear a joke? Summer Break.
Every year, as the summer approaches, a rather surprising number of people ask me what I’m going to do with myself during the break, while the kids are away. To be fair, having a school as part of our church’s ministry can sometimes give the impression that everything stops for the summer, and sometimes, I even let myself get lulled into a false sense that things will slow down when summer hits. Reality check: it doesn’t. (Side note: even teachers, who are technically “on break” don’t take the summer off. Because they are superheroes in real life. That’s a whole other topic.)
So far, my summer has looked like this: 3 weeks of VBS planning and prep, 1 week of actual VBS, a few days traveling to spend time with my family, and a few days at a ministry conference. When I got back home a few days ago, I was just dead. I hadn’t allowed myself any real rest in weeks. Physically, mentally and emotionally, I was feeling it, and I was frustrated, because I’m Katie Otto and I’m a coffee-powered superhuman that doesn’t need breaks and I will come up with all the solutions eventually. So there (arms crossed for emphasis).
Except that’s not true. And then I got a text from a friend that said “Katie,” and you know they’re serious when they use your name in a text message, “It’s totally ok for you to feel how you’re feeling sometimes.” All I could do was sit and stare and read and reread this text message that so directly, but so gently hit me with exactly what I needed to hear, and in that moment, I gave myself permission to “just be.”
Just be. Bear with me, because I know this is going to sound cheesy, but to “just be” actually requires a significant amount of work. It’s not zoning out on the couch or curling up with a book, although those can be an effective means of rest for some people. Instead, I actually have to get more in tune with what my body is saying…identify the feeling and respond to that feeling, not respond with how I’d like to handle it, but respond with what it actually needs. If I’m hungry, eat. If I’m sleepy, sleep. If I’m sad, cry about it…no one’s here to watch. If I’m angry, guess what? That’s ok too. Over the last 3 days, with the exception of a few “have to’s,” I’ve let my body be in control. I’ve eaten, I’ve worked, I’ve talked with friends, I’ve spent significant time in God’s Word, and I’ve slept like 32 hours.
My favorite thing about these lessons that I learn is when I can see so clearly how God orchestrated it. It would be easy for me to list all the other things I should’ve been doing over these past few days, but tonight, just when I was starting to feel a little guilty about that, I went to church, where Pastor’s sermon was all about rest. It was a reminder that Jesus invites us to rest, and gives us the freedom to do so. The Pharisees challenge Jesus on his teachings regarding the sabbath several times, and his response is always the same. The sabbath day of rest isn’t about not doing anything. More than anything, it’s an opportunity and an invitation for us, as creation, to reconnect with our creator, to be both physically and spiritually cared for. Tune out or strip away everything else and just be. Just be with Jesus. And rest.
