Sacred Rest
It seems like the hustle and bustle of the holiday season bled straight into January, as we head back to school, work, and daily chores all while keeping up with the daily demands of family and career. It can be hard to take some time for yourself. But hear this: you have permission to rest, seek boundaries, and seek sanctuary without guilt. In Sacred Rest, Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, a board-certified internal medicine doctor, reveals why rest can no longer remain optional.
An excerpt from Sacred Rest:
Home. I always knew even as a little girl that somewhere a place exists where my heart can rest in the comfortable armchair of life and recline into the soft contours of contentment and peace. Somewhere sits a fire lit by the heat of my past mistakes and fanned by the purity of a grace I’ve yet to fully grasp. Somewhere out there is the road that will lead me back to the home my spirit longs for, a place I left so long ago I can no longer tell if it truly existed or if it was only an illusion. A place secured by God’s love and upheld by His peace.
The journey home did not take me past rainbows and sunsets. The road was more roller coaster than carousel, more tugboat than luxury cruise liner. There was no fanfare, no celebration along the way. No one cheered or gathered to congratulate me for the journey. There was no medal at the end of the marathon race toward the place of my longing. The course did not move me along like a raft drifting down the calm waters of a country stream. Rather, the journey home was a leap, a tandem leap from healing bridge to healing bridge.
Bridges are an interesting thing. They are a pathway connecting two places, often over an obstacle or tumultuous area. In many cases, we would never be able to cross wide gaps in the terrain while traveling without the assistance of bridges. When you are standing at the edge of a thorny embankment looking down at the raging waters below, dreaming about the inviting gardens on the other side can seem like a lost cause unless there is a bridge to join where you are presently at with where you desire to be.
Just as a structural bridge is needed to traverse natural ravines, metaphorical bridges are needed to traverse spiritual ravines. When deep pain enters your life, it can cut into your emotions, into your faith, and into your ability to trust God, creating a deep spiritual valley, a valley so expansive and so consuming it can become a refuge. It can become a place you can retreat for fear of being hurt again. I call this place the Valley of the Wounded, and I spent much of my childhood wandering around exploring what little it had to offer. I must admit it did offer protection because my pain was a barrier to building relationships with others who could potentially cause me future pain. It offered safety since few were willing to visit me in my place of discontentment. And it offered the needed motivation to excel at being self-sufficient and self-serving.
Ultimately, it’s offerings failed to meet what my heart and soul truly craved. It could never feel like home. It could never be my sanctuary.
We all need sanctuary, a secure place where protection reigns and comfort is received. We need relief from the daily struggles and times of immunity from outside attacks. Sanctuary is not simply a place; it’s a state of being. There we find a sense of security and peace that flows from our connection to God. Sanctuary is where we lay down our fight and rest. In the process, we find our way back home to a relationship with God.
How can you keep your energy, happiness, creativity, and relationships fresh and thriving in the midst of never-ending family demands, career pressures, and the stress of everyday life? In Sacred Rest, Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, a board-certified internal medicine doctor, reveals why rest can no longer remain optional.
Dr. Dalton-Smith shares seven types of rest she has found lacking in the lives of those she encounters in her clinical practice and research-physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, sensory, social, creative-and why a deficiency in any one of these types of rest can have unfavorable effects on your health, happiness, relationships, creativity, and productivity. Sacred Rest combines the science of rest, the spirituality of rest, the gifts of rest, and the resulting fruit of rest. It shows rest as something sacred, valuable, and worthy of our respect.
By combining scientific research with personal stories, spiritual insight, and practical next steps, Sacred Rest gives the weary permission to embrace rest, set boundaries, and seek sanctuary without any guilt, shame, or fear.
