(This post was written by Matt Grimes, Middle School Ministry Pastor)

We live in a very fast paced society. At every turn in our lives we are faced with yet another activity and event that we are supposed to be a part of. The place where this really gets put on steroids is within the family. Dad has work and all the demands that brings. Mom if not working is trying to keep everyone where they need to be while trying to maintain a life for herself. Then you have the kids and the ever increasing demands of school and all the extracurricular activities they may be involved in. Before you know it we end up going one hundred miles an hour ending up burned out and disconnected.

What is interesting is that God knew that we can not operate this way. We need rest and He actually commands us to rest. In fact God commands us to  rest for an entire day each week. That sounds almost alien to us. Our world does not rest. If we are going to rest that means that we will have to say no to some things that the world around us says we need to do. Maybe that’s saying no to baseball practice because our kid needs to power down for a few. Maybe that means we have to say no to an extra assignment at work that would gain us more money but would add more work at a time that we desperately need to rest. We have to remember that we were not designed to burn the candle at both ends. We need to rest. Without it we will miss out on what God has for us. The funny thing is that I most often here God when I choose to stop and take a time for rest.

So what things in your life do you need to say no to so that you can make time for rest?  What things do you need to help your kids say no to so they can rest?  The best time is now to build the importance of rest into your kids lives. No one else will do it. Let’s model for our kids the importance and need for rest.