An Invitation to Rest

In response to her father’s cancer treatment, Jen Scheuermann reflects on the time she allowed herself to rest, then encountered Jesus in a real and personal way.

(My father recently completed radiation treatment at MD Anderson. The following is a post I shared to his Caring Bridge site during his therapy.)

It’s been almost two years exactly since I heard Jesus speak to me for the first time. No, it wasn’t an audible voice. But as I sat alone in my room on an Ignatian Retreat, my Bible open before me as I read about the Samaritan woman, I heard the voice of Jesus speak right to my heart. It was an experience unlike any I’d had before, and I’m forever changed because of it.

Reflecting on that weekend though, I realize I could have easily missed out on that life-changing encounter. In fact, I almost did. You see I initially approached that weekend the way I’ve approached most of my life – in a task oriented, To-Do list tackling, “I’ll take care of it,” must-be-productive manner.

But fortunately the first morning of the retreat I found myself face to face with a Spiritual Director who spoke the exact words my soul needed to hear: Be Still. And in response to those words, I somehow gave myself permission to do just that …

To stop striving

To stop performing

To stop reaching

To stop doing

To stop working

And to just … be.

This advice allowed me to do something I would have never done otherwise: I paused. I rested. Quite literally, in fact! As I actually closed my eyes – with the Bible open on my lap – and fell asleep. And only in doing so was I able to completely clear my mind, to stop that constantly streaming list of things I could and should be doing, so that upon waking I could hear God’s voice.

I originally planned these words to be an email to my dad alone. You see, I suspect that several weeks into treatment, his fatigue is increasing. And because he’s spent his entire life working – caring for his family, his patients, and his employees – I imagine this fatigue is frustrating. I imagine he feels he must “keep doing.” I suspect that like me, he has to some extent allowed his work and his work ethic to define who he is. To become the basis of his identity. To determine his value. Without a doubt I’ve been guilty of the same, as for years I allowed my career and my role as a mother to speak to my worth. And with this approach to life, it is very hard to stop doing – even when the fatigue surrounds you.

Click to tweet:
Sometimes stepping OFF the hamster wheel of life is the only thing that will allow us to hear God’s voice. #catholicmom

I decided to share these words here, instead, because I suspect others may also identify with this life approach. So if you’re reading these words and can at all relate, the following is for you:

You are not defined by what you do.

Your value is immeasurable - regardless of how much you do and how well you do it.

Sometimes stepping OFF the hamster wheel of life, & intentionally laying down the list of things we “should” be doing, is the only thing that will allow us to hear God’s voice.

And sometimes our fatigue is actually an invitation from the Lord to rest – with Him – because it’s the only way we can hear His voice over the noise of the world.

invitation