The enemy will try to keep you from this.

Someone asked me lately, “How are you doing? Busy?”

I reply without any thought - “Oh yes, life’s busy!”

And then I retract my reply after a moment of thought, “Well, actually, life isn’t really busy at all.”

And it’s somewhat due to the choices we’ve made, but also due to so many things outside of our control.

In our marriage, we’ve always been stretched thin, and here we are in a season with an abundance of time for the very first time.

We go for family walks down to the bridge just to throw sticks into the river below.

We kick the soccer ball across the kitchen floor after dinner while the toddler erupts into a fit of giggles.

Life is slow and we are thriving in it.

…almost.

You see, just as we found our rhythm of slow and quiet days, I found myself plagued by an unwelcome friend - the friend who constantly whispers, “What if’s” into your ear.

I woke up during the night with panic about some small thing only to wake in the morning and remember that this was certainly not a crisis and certainly not worth me losing sleep over.

This same friend would drive me to scurry through my days grasping at any bits of control I could convince myself that I had. I was doing my very best to ensure that no matter what difficulty came our way, I would have a solution in place.

Then I took a day trip to a women’s retreat and the lovely speaker who also happened to be my very own mother, shared on the topic of rest.

“The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.”

“He’s already taken care of your biggest problem of sin, can’t we trust Him to take care of every other need that we have?”

And as I sat and listened to the words spoken it all played before me - the nights of worry, the tears to my husband at the end of the day, the fear pushing me on and on at a reckless pace.

We had been given the gift of beautiful rest, and the enemy took his opportunity to destroy it. Here in my season of quiet days, I was the most anxious because the enemy is very good at deceiving and distracting.

The question then - why does the enemy see rest as something worth corrupting? What do we gain from times of rest?

Our rest can lead to greater depths of intimacy with God.

Our rest can lead to cultivating a more intentional way of life.

Our rest can lead to flourishing relationships.

Our rest can lead to strength for the difficulties that lie around the next bend.

The enemy wants nothing to do with our seasons or moments of rest because, when done well, rest is what strengthens us for the battle of the Christian life.

That time in the morning that you intend to spend in God’s Word will face an onslaught of attack from both toddlers and the snooze button.

The family all together around the dinner table will face an onslaught of attack from the many good activities and invitations.

The Sunday morning routine of attending church will face an onslaught of attack from the seemingly good need for a day at home, time to catch up on sleep, or the commitment that we just can’t say no to.

You see, if the enemy can just keep us busy enough, we won’t give so much thought to the choices we’re making. We won’t have to face that sin problem or relationship that is broken.

If we just stay busy enough we won’t have time to serve to the capacity we ought or to care for others in the way we were created to.

“I just don’t have time!” is the reason we give for nearly every good thing we wish we could do, but regretfully cannot.

But what if we did have the time? What if we had no excuse? What if life was slower and we could do the things we know we ought to do?

I quickly realized why the enemy took care to ensure I could not rest in this season so clearly made for that very purpose.

Because rest is a precious gift that allows us to flourish when tended well.