Last week I began talking about physical rest, and today I want to reflect on mental rest.
This past week, mental rest has been especially on my heart because my mind felt full of so many things Christmas preparations, getting ready to travel and see family, making sure I haven’t forgotten anything, finishing up the last weeks of homeschooling for the year… and then realizing there are still other things that keep showing up no matter how busy or not busy life gets. That’s just life.
It’s so important for our minds to be at rest. When they aren’t, we struggle with focus and clarity. Oh my word this is so me! Sometimes I’m washing the dishes while thinking about the laundry I need to do and my devotional I still haven’t read. Then, a few minutes later, I find myself standing in my bedroom staring at the laundry basket, wondering, Why did I come in here? 
Has that ever happened to you, or is it just me?
Lately and maybe it’s perimenopause, because I’ve read that brain fog can be part of it. I’ve really noticed this more than ever. But the Lord has been gently showing me that this hasn’t just been a recent thing; it’s been years of multitasking. I remember someone once telling me, “Wendy, you’re really good at multitasking,” and at the time I felt proud of that. Now, I’m not so sure it was such a good thing after all.
So I’ve decided this is something I want to change in this new season with God. I’ve been inviting the Holy Spirit to guide me as I learn to be more present in what I’m doing. When I wash the dishes, I try to focus only on that instead of letting my mind run through a thousand other things. Because what often happens is that I don’t end up doing any of them well and my mind never really rests. God has also been showing me just how much I overthink and how hard it can be for my mind to slow down.
One simple way I’ve learned to rest my mind is through joy watching comedies and intentionally allowing myself to laugh. As I’ve observed myself, I can clearly see the difference between how I am when I’m stressed and how I am when my mind is at rest and the people around me feel that difference too. It’s huge. 
So here’s my personal challenge for this week: to laugh more and allow my mind to rest.
I’m so thankful to the Lord for the gift of our minds and for His Word, which reminds us of the importance of renewing them. Colossians 3:10 urges us to put on a new self, to move away from old patterns of thinking and be renewed through God’s truth and the work of the Holy Spirit.
My prayer today is this:
If you are like me, I invite you to join me in this prayer that the Lord would transform our thinking from any old patterns into His truth. He desires for us to live in abundance, yet so often our minds are filled with everything except the life and Kingdom abundance He offers.
May we learn to rest our minds in Him
(This picture show some of our times of us having fun, being silly, dancing and laughing so much, some are from the weekend and others from some years ago )