Parental Rest

I know to some of you this sounds like a joke. We are so busy taking our kids to school, sports, activities, and whatever comes up in their lives that we sometimes feel we are on the fast track to nowhere. Frazzled, tired, and stressed out, we try and find sometime for ourselves. Again, you think I am a comedian! Well men and women really feel like this, especially single parents.


We think it is only women who feel this way; however, men do too. They are just not as vocal as the women are because, in our culture, men see it is a sign of weakness if they admit it. This is just adding to the original problem of being too hurried and tired (Frustrated). When do I rest? When do I get a break? When do I get fed? Well, some would say ‘suck it up’ the responsibility is yours and yours alone. Not true…God gave us the ability to set boundaries and manage our lives with Him or without Him. I have found with Him is much easier.

Now remember you are feeling this way because of you and the decisions you have made, so you need to take care of you (No one is going to do it for you). So what is the answer? How am I going to get that rest in? Okay, here is the answer and you may not like it, but it is the reality of being of parent. You do not get a rest! Yes, I am of a sane mind. First being a parent is work, a lot of work, moreover it is a job that never ends (You never stop being a parent). Your rest comes in the quiet moments we get when the kids are in bed or early in the morning before they get up.

I have learned that the rest I need is in the time with my Lord. It is in that silence when He whispers in my ear and lets me know that He loves me and brings rest and peace to my soul. Our kids need us and as parents we need to build into them, so our rest is in the Lord. He tells us to cast our cares upon Him and he will give us rest. Are you carrying what He should be carrying? Do you take time every day to hear His tender loving voice speak peace into your life? True rest is in Him only.