Yahweh is my best friend and my shepherd.
I always have more than enough.
He offers a resting place for me in his luxurious love.
His tracks take me to an oasis of peace near the quiet brook of bliss.
That’s where he restores and revives my life. (Psalm 23:1-3 TPT)
Last weekend I was asked to take on a special project in preparation for an upcoming women’s conference. Under normal circumstances, knowing I have the skills for the project and that it would lighten someone else’s load, I would have agreed. But this time, I said no. I simply don’t have the internal energy to push another metaphorical boulder up the hill or take on something important that requires significant effort. While I can manage day-to-day tasks, the many changes and losses in my life over the past 6–12 months—through deaths and other challenges—have left my emotional tank running on fumes.
I wish I had an Aunt Beast.
Aunt Beast is a character who appears for a chapter in Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time. After narrowly escaping the dark planet Camazotz, the main character Meg, her father, and her friend Calvin arrive on the planet Ixchel. In their first, tentative attempt to tesseract away from Camazotz, Meg was nearly killed by the Black Thing. On Ixchel, kind and gentle creatures who communicate through telepathy care for the travelers. When Meg regains consciousness, her fear and anger overwhelm her, and one of the creatures – Aunt Beast – must convince her that she needs to rest in order to heal.
Often in life we must rest in order to heal.
Rest is essential for healing—physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Just as the body needs sleep to repair itself and the mind needs quiet to process stress, our emotions and spirits also require periods of pause to recover and regain strength. Without rest, efforts to “push through” can actually prolong or deepen exhaustion and suffering.
In the book Aunt Beast was gentle, kind, warm, and loving. Sometimes I wish I had an Aunt Beast – someone who gentleness and loving care would help me release all the chaos of life and just rest, relax, and recover.
I was thinking the other day about an experiment in which someone gave a tree a type of “medicine” that prevented it from going into its normal winter hibernation. The tree ended up dying.
God created that tree to need its resting season in winter.
God created us to need weekly resting in sabbath.
Why do we push against rest? What God meant for good, he meant for GOOD!
For me, I have titled this month “Gentle January.” I will quietly work on small, important, personal projects. I will honor my regular commitments. I will be present to my family and friends. But I will work at my pace, listening to my spirit, my body, and my emotions. I will rest when I need to. I will read, write, play piano, sing, call a friend, take a walk, or just sit and do nothing when I need to. I will rest. Just as Aunt Beast provides healing, nourishment, love, and care for Meg, I trust that as I surrender to the loving arms of my Good Shepherd, Jesus will provide all I need.
Your life may desperately need rest and recovery, you may be all filled up and fired up for the activities to come, or you may be somewhere in between. My invitation to you is to not miss the good God has for you in the spaces of rest in your life. And where you can be an Aunt Beast for someone else, consider that a sacred calling.
Yahweh,
Thank you for being our best friend and shepherd. We always have more than enough. You offer a resting place for us in your luxurious love. Your tracks take us to an oasis of peace near the quiet brook of bliss. Thank you for restoring and reviving our lives. Help us to be people who surrender to your good gift of rest, and who help others to rest, recover, and recharge. May we be encouragers and blessed to be a blessing, we pray in Jesus’s name, AMEN.