REST... how do you be?

Well I tried.... I gave it my best shot but unfortunately I couldn't keep up with the kids and a blog. Oh wait you all saw that coming! However the attempt was good! It was just so difficult to balance grading, peer teachers, and about 100 students. Many nights I came home and crashed on the couch for hours then wake up and start preparing for my next day of adventures.

I am prepared for a long list of stories that I had written down in my journal to soon post to share. SO GET READY!!!

It is now official I have finished my student teaching at Conrad Ball Middle School. I have graduated and now resting comfortable in my own home! I am looking forward to the new adventures that await and am looking for positions and getting my paperwork in for a licence and so I can also sub for this next semester. Subbing will provide more stories, perhaps then I can stay current with a blog.

In the last few days it has provided me time to process and reflect on this journey. I think about how this semester of Student Teaching had been a fear of mine to face since I was little. Now that it and school are over, I am left wondering what am I to do. However as I toss and turn over the next step, a gentle whisper is telling me it is ok to REST!

Rest for me is a foreign thing. If not every second is filled with an activity I feel like I am waisting my life. I remember when I was a child talking with my great grandma Ruth she told me that, "you can never get back a second of your life so live it well!" I remember then looking up at the clock knowing that I would never again have 3:32 June 6th, 1992 to do over. I think that is why I fill my life with things to do. But recently I have been being urged to rest. This is contradictory to what college graduates are supposed to do, but I have a the opportunity to enjoy this time.

In the Bible it talks about how God even orchestrated a time called Jubilee which mandated that people rest. Pastors go on sabbaticals, so this next time in my life I will be resting. I am reminded of one of my favorite passages where Elijah is called to go to the desert to eat and rest. I plan on just that. I must learn how to once again not "do" for Christ love but just "be" in his love. Being is difficult for me to do because I feel like I don't deserve it. I trust that these whispers should not go unnoticed.

I was talking with a friend the other day at a lovely coffee house, Two Rivers, and he was telling me how 2011 was going to be a year of prayer. He had decided to be intentional with prayer and understood what that mean for his life. I am stealing this idea but putting a Kendra flare to it.... 2011 will be at year of intentionally resting with the Lord, listening to the whispers and being intentional with my love towards others.

I do ask one last thing of anyone that reads this... if you have any thoughts on what it may look like to rest or any advice for me as this new adventure begins, please let me know!

Happy NEW YEAR.... may it be full of rest!