Jesus set a standard for everything. For how to work. For how to love. For how to be selfless and devoted. He even set an example for how to rest.
Oh, we hear you. You're saying, "REST?! HA! Do you know what my life is like? Between the kids, and the house, and don't even get me started about my job!" Yeah. We get it.
But Jesus knew exactly what it was like. That's why He would OFTEN go somewhere away from the crowds, away from the noise - even away from the disciples - TO SPEND TIME WITH HIS FATHER.
And we need that, too.
We care deeply about the importance of real REST in your life. St. Augustine worded it this way, "Our hearts are RESTLESS until they rest in [God]". When was the last time you felt like you could really REST? Really spend time quietly thinking, praying - just BE-ing? The worst thing is that in today's world when we need rest, we get out the phone, the computer, the TV, and just VEG. That's not RESTING. Believe it or not - that's actually something else. That's called wasting time. And where RESTING is really relaxing, giving your troubles to the One who can actually do something about them, remembering WHOSE you are and how valuable you are to God, WASTING TIME, is, well, just that. And SLEEPING may be a wonderful thing, but it's very different from RESTING, because while RESTING actually lets you unburden, refresh in your Father's grace and peace, and get the energy to start life again, SLEEPING sometimes just postpones the things you have to do, causing the stress to just pile on.