Restless

Do you ever have those days (or weeks...or months) when you just feel like you want to take the rest of your life off?  Or that you just want something exciting to happen?

 I've been feeling something like that.  Uninspired and restless.  I want change, action, something different.

It's not like there isn't enough action here.  There's plenty at any given time.   And as far as school goes, we have  interesting material to study and we are enjoying it. 

So why do I feel restless?  I don't know.  Perhaps it's the time of year.  Although autumn is my favourite season, it's always tinged with a bit of sadness since it signals the end of warm weather and the beginning of the long, gray months of winter.

Or maybe it's just that we've been working too hard.

One of the benefits of homeschooling has been that we can take a day off now and then as it suits us.  But often we only do that when there are extra things to be done - like spring cleaning or canning.  That's a break in that it's a change of activity, but it's not a rest.  Taking time to rest is a good and needful thing, and perhaps we should consider scheduling days off more often.  Or maybe instead of taking entire days off, we just need to carve out some time in our days to enjoy restful, inspiring activities.  Like those nature walks that I had good intentions of doing regularly.

Actually, our Creator knows our needs so well that He instituted a pattern of rest for us by setting aside one day each week as a day of rest from our regular work and activities when we would devote ourselves to worship Him.  We are wise to follow that pattern.

But sometimes my restless feeling is simply due to a lack of diligence.  It takes honesty to discern between a legitimate need for a break and, simply put, pure laziness.  One of life's important lessons that I need to demonstrate for my children is practicing stick-to-it-iveness. That 'keeping on', even when I don't feel like it. Stopping the moping and, instead of thinking about what to do, just doing what I know I should.  And perhaps the most important thing of all is to cultitvate a spirit of contentment and thankfulness.  For that, too, it can be helpful to take a moment of rest here and there to notice and enjoy the little pleasures that God blesses us with.
 


It works for me.  Often the best days are when I do just that.