All You Who Need Rest

Hello and welcome to a sixty-degrees Saturday here at the Wannaskan Almanac via Winnipeg. Today is April 12.

"All You Who Need Rest" is the title of the Day 15 reflection in Matthew Kelly's 33 Days in Eucharistic Glory. I started reading this book in January with "the prayer ladies" - an endearing name the kids came up with for the women who gather every Wednesday for weekly rosary prayers, thoughtful conversation about the latest book they're reading together, and fellowship. 

In my stay-at-home-mom days, I looked forward to the time spent with the prayer ladies. Prayer group was a steady staple of my spiritual and social diet. It was time to get out of the house (with kids in tow) to pray and learn from the wisdom of these deeply spiritual women. It was a time to laugh as much as a time to ponder and delve deeper into my faith.  However, when I transitioned to full-time employment, this Wednesday morning fixture in my weekly schedule went to the wayside. So in 2025, I resolved to put prayer group back in my schedule. I blocked off every Wednesday from 10:30-11:30 on my work calendar for the rest of the year. To date, I've only made it to prayer group three times.

Ah, the busyness of life.

It's so easy to let work come first. Granted, not all the Wednesdays missed were work-related. For example, there was that crazy season of Sick all of us across Wannaska experienced. In our household, that accounted for at least two months of missed Wednesdays. But, yes, those other missed Wednesdays were about putting work first. If someone schedules a meeting and that's the only time they can do it, you have to go, right? If you have a deadline, it's gotta be met, right?

At Craft Retreat two weeks ago, I resumed reading Kelly's book. We're in the season of Lent, a season meant for preparing our hearts, and what better way to prepare my heart than to meditate for the remaining 30 of the 33 days on the impending Eucharistic glory to be had at Easter?

But this post is about rest, not about Eucharistic glory.

"What should I write about today?" I asked myself, when I sat down at my laptop with my favorite hot, richly intense coffee brewed in my Mocha pot. True to my wing-it nature, I usually wait until Saturday morning, fresh with rest and ready for "the spirit to move me," as my mom would say. So far, this strategy has yet to disappoint. Plucking inspiration from the universe, I often enjoy the surprise of discovery - and this morning is no different.

All you who need rest.

That's totally me. I'm like, oh yes, let's emoji that right here. 🙋

The timing of the message is impeccable (possibly divine?) as I'll be spending the day at Thermea, a Nordic spa in Winnipeg. A day of intentional rest where my only job is to be quiet - a task that I've actually gotten pretty good at despite my outgoing, chatty nature. 

"Rest is a divine activity," Kelly writes. Whatever your faith or spiritual belief system is, he goes on to say, "Modern scientific research shows that people are most satisfied in life when they find a rhythm of working intensely for a period, and then completely unplugging and resting for a period. Rest reduces stress by activating the parasympathetic nervous system, the opposite of the sympathetic nervous system which is responsible for the fight or flight response. Do you ever feel like the whole world is in fight or flight mode? This is why. We are neglecting our legitimate need for meaningful rest." (p. 73)

I've got the "work intensely" part down pat. And, today, I am so looking forward to "completely unplugging and resting for a period." (Seriously, no devices.)

May you find your period of rest this weekend in whatever form that rejuvenates you.