God Took Naps

"By the seventh day, God had finished the work He had been doing. 

So, on the seventh day, He rested from all His work.

Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy."

- Genesis 2:2

    Mondays. Everyone loves Mondays, right? Especially rainy, cold, icy, wet Mondays, right? I know I sure do. Okay...maybe not. Maybe not to all of the aforementioned love of Mondays. I woke up today feeling like I was robbed of hours of sleep. I felt like I just tucked myself in when the alarm went off at 5:00AM this morning. And at 5:45, when I finally rolled out of bed (I hit snooze at least three times...), I literally dragged myself through the motions of getting ready. Of course, walking outside to see my car laced in ice was just another reason for my to go back inside to my nice, warm, comfy bed on this miserable Monday morning. 

    Mondays. On Mondays, I have a series of duties to complete before first block. One of them includes running a student retreat leader meeting. I got the girls ready to go on their tasks for the day and they were chattering away, laughing and enjoying each others' presence. They even had me laughing a bit on this miserable Monday day. Needless to say, they were a bit of sunshine on this cloudy day. One of my other duties is to make sure a Communion Service happens. Students do most of the Communion Service, but I'm there to facilitate the entire thing. It's a chance for the school community to come together in prayer and communion. Of course, as I was sitting there and my eyes were doing their best to stay open, a student read the first reading from Genesis. Suddenly, my heart chuckled. God took naps. 

     I had been thinking on my way to school this morning about how it felt my weekend flew by. I began to think of how for the next few weekends, I will not have any free time. Between running various retreats and service weekends, to spending time at my alma mater for alumnae weekend to literally having way too much to do, I will not be able to sleep in on have a rest day. (Sidenote: we ironically have off for President's Day so maybe that's my day?) Suddenly, I was experiencing so much anxiety. Not a single day of rest. 

     When I was in college, the Sisters used to tease me about my morning routine on most days (aside from when I was student teaching). I would hit the alarm at 6:50, run to the bathroom, brush my teeth, throw some jeans on and run out the door to make it for prayers at 7:10. After Mass, I'd go back to my room, hop on my bed with the intention of doing something productive and eventually fall back asleep. Not all of the Sisters knew this, but when they found out, well...you can imagine the teasing I got. Of course, many of the Sisters knew (only because I had them for class and would openly state my after class plans) that I more times than not took a nap after class. I most definitely took a nap after class if I didn't go back to sleep after Mass. Now, before I go on, the disclaimer is that more often than not, I wouldn't go to bed at night until 12:00. Remember, it's important to get 7-8 hours of sleep a night! 

      To say I miss being able to take naps is an understatement. I sincerely feel like a piece of me is missing when I don't get to take a nap. Okay, maybe I'm being a bit dramatic. But seriously, I do miss taking naps. I also miss having a few Sundays of rest. Some people would most likely answer, "Welcome to the real world, kid." But is this the real world God intended for us, when He rested on the seventh day? I don't think so. 

     If we read Genesis in it's truest form, God created a lot of things, saw that they were good. All of His work He considered good, it was good. God did good work. Because He did good work, on the seventh day He rested from all the good work that He did. So does this mean we should always rest on the seventh day? Well, yes. But this story of creation is two-fold. Not only should we set a day aside for rest but we should also spend the other six days doing good work. 

     Sundays in today's society are no longer reserved for a day of worship. They are set aside for CYO games, catching up on any homework, and of course, working around the house, right? More times than not, I'm running out of church onto the next activity. When will it stop? When will the running around stop? Maybe I should pencil into my calendar "REST" on every Sunday. Resting is important not only for the physical and emotional but for the spiritual, as well. That's the first part of this two-fold call from Genesis. 

     The second part - doing good work all week long. If I feel tired toward the seventh day, I need to ask myself: did I tire myself by doing good work? Was there good in everything that I did? Did I make a difference? Did I preach the Gospel? Did I put the Gospel into action? Did I do enough? I know I am called to preach the gospel (and use words when necessary). I know I am called to do good for the work of the Lord; for His greater honor and glory. I know this is my calling. 

     And so, on my day of rest, I'll pray that my six days of work should be productively good for God's greater glory. And after my six days of good work, I will rest. Because honestly, I don't think God is calling me to be a workaholic. God definitely rested. He took naps. In our all too busy society, we do not rest enough. We do not take the time to breathe; we just keep on running. Many of us do such good work during the week - God gives us a day to rest. So, I think for the next few weeks, I'll pencil in some rest time. Just because, of course, I need to get back in the habit of taking rest time. And naps.