Margin: Rest
From adrenaline to exhaustion
Reflect with me for a moment on these two words:
Adrenaline.
Exhaustion.
At first glance, they may seem like opposites, or strikingly different extremes. But as I reflect, I can’t help but wonder if there is a fine connection between the two, a very fine line that we have been tip-toeing on for too long.
“Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” - Jesus (Mark 6:31b)
For the past few years, Jesus has been inviting me to places and spaces of rest. While this might sound ordinary to some, it really had become a bit of a foreign concept to me.
Rest seemed to fall somewhere on the back burner of the more pressing or urgent issues in life and ministry. I had fallen out of the discipline of solitude and rest.
One can only go so long before “running on fumes” doesn’t cut it anymore, though. Jesus knew this, and He taught His disciples to know this first-hand. In Mark 6:31b, we read of Jesus’ very personal invitation to His closest friends to retreat with Him and get some rest.
The disciples had just finished a rather intense and demanding season of ministry alongside Jesus, and they had spent an extended amount of time pouring themselves out for the sake of others.
I intentionally left out the first half, Mark 6:31a, until now to make a point. Now, let’s read the verse in its entirety.
Then, because so many people were coming and going
that they did not even have a chance to eat, He said to them,
“Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
I don’t have to wonder whether you and I have found ourselves in a similar place. The pace of life has quickened so much – or we have allowed it to – that there are days when we literally have left no margin left to physically feed ourselves.
I mean, literally.
Some of our days are packed so full of running here and doing that, meeting with so-and-so, appointments and soccer practices…chasing, chasing, chasing, and never resting. I’m not even talking about a nap, although we all know how much some of us need one.
I’m referring to a refreshing of our souls, one that can only come from time spent pausing from the hurry and quieting our minds and hearts.
Time spent in prayer. Time spent with Jesus.
Rather, many of us fuel our lives with the frantic pace of adrenaline, hoping that the steam doesn’t wear off until the final task or obligation has been completed. Then we crash. Sometimes we burn.
Then we’re up the next day and somehow manage to do it all over again. Instead of this less than desirable dwelling in the frantic, could we take a moment and consider Jesus’ personal invitation to us today?
He invites us to put down the busy and pick up retreat with Him. He beckons us to grab some rest, much needed rest, for our souls. He calls us out of the stress and the pressures of life to regularly and repeatedly be with Him. Again and again and again.
Not just on Sunday mornings at church. Not just once in awhile, but every moment of every day, living from a place of peace and margin; from His abundance of rest rather than a place of hustle and hurry.
Can we take Him up on His offer? Are we capable of prioritizing His refreshment? Or will we put it off, depleting our souls one day, one hour, and one minute at a time?
As for me, I don’t want to burn out.
As much as there is to get done, with my own “to do” list growing with each passing moment, I’m learning where true and lasting peace is found. When I feel the adrenaline kicking in, I know it’s probably been a bit too long since I prioritized margin and rest.
Are you in need of some rest today too, friends? Jesus is calling.
“Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” - Jesus (Mark 6:31b)
If this is topic feels like it’s a little too close to home, here’s an additional resource that I think you’ll love. I read this book a few years ago, and it’s one I’ll go back to again and again:
Click the image to order