As many of you know, I enjoy running. I actually enjoy it. I mean, sometimes it’s horrible and torturous, but for the most part, I like it. Even when it’s difficult, actually. When I have a bad run, I tend to get motivated to do better. It’s weird. I know. But I like it.
Over the past several years, I have run several half-marathons. So, in case you don’t know, a marathon is 26.2 miles, which makes a half marathon 13.1 miles.
Every time I have finished a half marathon, I have been so exhausted that I was very grateful that I didn’t sign up to run the whole thing, because I couldn’t imagine the type of pain and exhaustion that doing what I did TWICE is like.
But a little over a year ago, I put my mind to doing the training for a full marathon. I created a schedule. I mustered up a ton of internal discipline, and I started training for this big event.
The thing about marathon training is that it’s not just an endurance race. Race day is only part of the marathon. It’s only the LAST 26.2 miles. There are a LOT of miles run before that day. And that’s the hardest part.
So I started training. I started running. And I was doing really well. And I was SO proud of myself.
The pain that I started to experience in my hip wasn’t really pain at first. It was just, sort of annoying. And it hurt the worst in the first part of my runs, but it diminished a lot by the end. So I convinced myself that it was just tired, but that warming it up was good and important and all that was needed.
After a couple of weeks, I started to realize that this pain was actually more than just tired muscles. But I wanted to be “hardcore,” and I wanted to do the race, so I decided to “run through the pain.”
I remember one run in particular. I parked my car at the church, actually. There is a trail right behind the church, and I was planning on running on the trail that day. I started running, and the pain was incredible. I couldn’t believe how much it hurt. Now, the logical thing to do would have been to stop running, go home, ice it, take some Ibuprofen, and rest. But there’s nothing logical about the decision to run 26.2 miles. Not really. And I didn’t go home. I was afraid that taking a day off would hurt my momentum that I had been building. And so, I ran. Nine miles. In pain.
It was that day when the pain became constant. It was THAT run that did me in. The pain wouldn’t go away. It didn’t get better after I got warmed up. I didn’t get better when I got done.
My calendar told me to run the next day. And I did. And it hurt.
I kept running, even though I KNEW that I needed rest. I KNEW that I needed to do more cross-training, more stretching, and maybe, even for just a little while, a little less running.
But pride…stupid pride…told me that I couldn’t take a break. Because taking a break was equivalent to quitting. So I didn’t. Until the pain got to be so bad that I could barely walk. It hurt all the time. It hurt terribly. I got X-Rays, which told me nothing. I knew there was no skeletal injury. Eventually, I had to quit. I thought that the damage might be permanent, because of how bad it was. And it made me really really sad.
Rest.
Doesn’t rest seem like a luxury?
Doesn’t rest seem scandalous?
We are all under a TON of pressure. You might have pressure from teachers, colleges, and parents to get good grades and be good students. You have pressure from your parents to be responsible and active participants in family events and life. You have pressure from your bosses to work according to their schedules and their needs. You have pressure from your friends to respond to their text messages quickly and enthusiastically. To hang out and spend quality time together. You have pressure you’re your coaches, music directors, etc. to show up to practice, to make it a priority, and to give 100%. You have pressure from Richard, the Core Team and me, to attend Life Teen and to give your time to serve other teens in this community. And this list here is only a small list of all of the ways you are pressured on a regular basis.
And so, with all of these pressures, it makes total sense that the first thing to go is rest. Sleep. Because the only thing pressuring you to sleep is your body. And the only thing pressuring you to rest is your mind. It’s EASIEST to let yourself down than it is to let someone else down. Self-care is seen as selfish. And so, you sacrifice to make sure that all of those things that are pressuring you, all those PEOPLE who are pressuring you to give your time and energy are content.
And yet, they never seem to be. No matter how much time and energy you give, there will always be a demand for your time. And energy.
Our culture loves busy-ness so much. It’s almost a status symbol to be as busy as possible. We practically glorify those who get too little sleep.
But, rest is important. God actually thinks it’s so important that He designated an entire day for us to rest. And when we don’t rest, our bodies get injured, or sick, and our bodies MAKE us take breaks.
See, it’s easy to say that our bodies are just our bodies, and that they can take a lack of sleep and rest, but it’s not that simple. We are not just bodies. And we are not just souls. Pope Saint John Paul II said that we are body-souls. Don’t think for a second that the way you treat your body doesn’t affect your soul. Of course it does! It has to!
For me, when I am especially exhausted, I have a really difficult time praying. And it doesn’t just have to be physical exhaustion. In the last four months since my dad died, I have to admit that the most accurate word that I have to describe my grieving process is that I’ve just been tired. Physically. Emotionally. Mentally. And yes, spiritually. It’s not necessarily because of a lack of sleep. It’s because of a lack of rest. I feel like that's the only thing on my mind. It's all I want to talk about. And it's exhausting to not. I feel guilty when people like my volunteers complain that they didn't get their Christmas party this year, or their big planning meeting that was supposed to take place during the time when I was dealing with his death. And that guilt makes me...guess what? Tired! I experience it mostly as a lack of spiritual rest. When we don’t allow our souls to rest with God, we get exhausted. Rest is always healing. Restorative. And we need that in all aspects of our lives.
That’s not to say that work is inherently bad or evil. Work and rest don’t have to oppose each other necessarily. And laziness and rest don’t have to be interchangeable, either. God tells us to rest, not to be lazy. In fact, laziness, or SLOTH, is one of the seven deadly sins! He doesn’t tell us to give up work. Certain kinds of work can be really restful. For me, actually, (when I’m not over-doing it), running is a restful activity. It works my body, but it rests my mind. And it rests my soul. Especially when I see something beautiful or good on my run. I love when I run at sunset or sunrise, because it’s lovely. I love when I run on 80th over the bridge that goes over highway 36, because I get an amazing view of the mountains when I’m going west, and of Denver when I’m going east. And I always use that time to let my soul be renewed.
Several years ago, when I was working on getting my certificate in youth ministry, we started the day in prayer, and the instructor gave us the direction to ask God to show us how He sees us. So I did this, and I say very clearly a daisy, which is my favorite flower. At first, I thought that it was just because daisies are my favorite, and because God was telling me that I am His favorite (just like all of His kids are His favorites). But the longer I looked at this flower, the more I realized that God loves me for the same reason that I love that flower. See, a daisy doesn’t DO anything for me. It doesn’t keep me company when I’m lonely. It doesn’t give me money when I need or want something. It doesn’t make me laugh with its sense of humor. All it does is…it BE’s. It "be’s "itself, exactly as God created it. And I think that it’s beautiful. And it makes me happy.
God doesn’t love me because of what I do. He can’t love me anymore if I am good, or any less if I am bad, because He IS love itself. He loves me because I am me. I am who He created me to be. I am a red-head. I like Disney movies. I like country music. He loves me…because He created me the way that I am. And there’s nothing I can do to change that.
When I learned this, I felt so much freedom. I felt FREE to rest with Him, because I felt like it was ok that I can’t do it all. I don’t have to. And it’s very healing.
Rest is scandalous, because busy-ness is the mark of an important person…to other people. Rest is extravagant. We spend great amounts of time working and saving money to take a vacation just so we can rest. We wear ourselves out just so we can rest. We think of rich people as people who rest. Retired people rest.
But God says that rest is blessed. We are human BEINGS, not human DOINGS. And it’s ok to BE with God. And we are all called to rest. It’s good for the body. For the mind. AND for the soul.
Sit in silence sometime. Clear your mind. It's not as easy to do as it seems like it should be. But ask God to help you. Let Him restore your soul. Maybe you'll have to give something up in order to make that happen. That's ok. Trust that He'll take care of that.
Here's a link to an interesting blog post. Not at all spiritual, but still helpful:
