Monday July 27, 2020
Anita Bailey
REST
Americans view rest in a variety of ways, but often see it as something we are entitled to. We work hard and value time off to do as we please, to include finding time to rest. But I can’t help but wonder what role rest played in the lives of our ancestors. When we talk about the good old days, I know that some of my ancestors, given the opportunity to compare their lives to the present, would think that these current times are the good times (minus the present Covid challenges). I have been spending a lot of my time, off and on over the years and a lot during these stay at home times, “getting to know” my ancestors through travel, research and family records, and I have found that life was hard for them. Each of my dad’s parents came over from Poland by ship as teens each on their own, escaping uncertain times in Europe to come to America for a better life, which for them meant eventually owning a subsistence farm and raising six kids. My dad tells stories about the hard work on the farm, especially mowing and bailing the hay on hot summer days. My mom’s family came from northern Quebec province where the Canadian census listed her grandfather’s occupation as “cultivateur”. Her father was born over 300 miles away from their hometown, in the winter, when the small but growing family had to move around to find winter work to support the family when farming was not an option. I wonder if their strong Christian faith allowed them to at least find Sunday- Sabbath day- as a day to rest. Or did the realities of struggling to make a living for themselves and their six children (not counting the two who died at ages 3 and 5) make rest an elusive dream? Life was full of hardships.
The word rest has different meanings for different people, and for different times- like the well-deserved rest of our health care workers on the front lines in these times of Covid comes after physically and emotionally exhaustive long work hours. For others, rest during these times can be an imposed stay-at-home time without access to the places and things that keep us active. And there is everything in between. Some find rest while alone, or getting away, or seeking quiet, a good book, prayer, music, friends and family times. In most cases, we most appreciate rest after working. If all our time was spent in leisure, we would not enjoy our leisure time. The satisfaction of what we accomplish with work helps us to appreciate our rest- the rest we feel we have earned.
Many equate retirement as a time in life that we can look forward to more time to rest. I retired from work in 2019 with that thought. No more alarm clock! Lots of leisurely, restful activities! Rest through reading books! But I quickly came to realize that work/rest lesson, that just as food tastes best after we hunger for it, rest feels best after working. Even through Covid times, I, like many of you, have found plenty of work that helps me to more fully appreciate those rest times.
Just as my ancestors before me, and through all of time our common ancestors we have met through scriptures, we must always be mindful, too, of the ultimate life’s work and rest as reward, sought through lives lived as faithful followers of Christ’s Word and His promise of redemption.