I don't have any pictures from our after lunch siestas, probably because I couldn't keep my eyes open once I sat down. Take my word for it - it's a picture of complete peacefulness.
Nogales isn't as hot as you might think. The town where we stay is up in the mountains at an altitude of about 4,500 feet. In the mornings and evenings you could wear a jacket or sweatshirt and be comfortable. The mid afternoon sun can be pretty scorching, but it's not hard to find shade and let the breeze bring you to a quick slumber! I think sometimes we don't really realize how tired we are until we stop all the busyness and give ourselves a second to rest.
I guess you could say that is one of the amazing things God did in my life this past week. The importance of rest and simplicity really made an impression on me. I know this might be starting to sound like a spa vacation, so trust me, we worked hard! Shoveling dirt and rocks from the side of a mountain or mixing concrete with a shovel are not the simplest of tasks. It was eye opening though, to see how productive you can be when you are well rested.
Why, when Jesus tells us that He will give us rest, do we say - "no thanks, I'd rather stay busy and stressed out?" Maybe you don't say that, but I surely do. I fill my life with so much clutter that I sometimes don't even enjoy the work I'm doing. That has got to change.
The material clutter has got to go too. I seemed to sense a correlation between the amount of stuff I have to my level of stress. I lived with so much less than I'm used to this past week. I wore shorts and tshirts everyday, showered in cold water with a spout that just dumped the water on you, slept in a room with no AC, on a bunk with just a normal sheet, pillow and blanket, in tiny room with 7 other women and walked wherever I needed to go. Instead of TV and my ipod I had chats with friends, books to read, naps to take and this to look at:
How can you simplify and bring some rest to your life?
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