Sunday grace is the grace of rest.

I had planned on leaving it at that and concluding with a seven-word post.

But there is at least one other thing to be said about rest: not all resting is equally restful. Not all down time is equally restorative. We can “take time off” and end up more tired and emotionally drained than when we began.

There is a big difference between resting, escaping, and numbing. (There’s also a big difference between dead and mostly dead. I’ll address that another time.) I suspect this varies with each person, so I will just describe it for myself. There are times when I am tired and what I need most in the world is exercise. I need for my body to move and my mind to stop spinning. Those are not times for me to “rest” by getting online and checking out the latest political happenings. Or I need to move in order to reflect and let God speak. Those are not the times to binge on the latest Netflix offering.

To “recreate” is to re-create. That makes “recreation” much more important than mere “down time.” How do we re-create ourselves? How do we let God re-create us? When we are torn down, when we are dulled down, when we are stomped down, we need re-creation. What re-creates you?

We have to find our own recreation. I love to hike. I love to be in mountains, where I see God, where God speaks to me and reminds me that I was made for more than hunching over a computer.

Sunday grace.

By the seventh day, God rested. God did. God had completed the work of creation and God made that day holy with rest.

A day of rest is holy. Rest is grace.

God commands us to rest. Rest is grace.

What allows you to rest? What do you have to turn off to rest? Do you know when you need to re-create for deeper rest?

Why does God make a specific day holy and say “Come, rest with me?”

Do we receive that grace?

There are, of course, health concerns of overwork and burnout and stress, studies that show how choosing not to rest can compromise or sabotage our immune systems. We have science to back up our need for rest. God knows.

Sunday grace opens us to all other grace. Without Sunday grace, without rest, we still believe that we earn our worth, our acceptance, our love.

Rest, and believe in grace.