Lesson #1
I used to live in Brooklyn, NY. Yes - home of Jay-Z, Biggie, and Pop Smoke. New York is famously known as “the city that never sleeps”. I always thought it to be a compliment until I realized how much I was missing out on the benefits of rest.
I was always on the go but I couldn't tell you where I was even going.
I had this NYC mentality that I had to grind, work, and be everywhere and at everything. I once heard Olivia Pope say she had to be twice as good. And as a black first generation Haitian-American woman I felt that deeply. And don’t get me wrong, I still do.
Yes, I know Olivia Pope is just a TV show character but that resonated with me. I’m grateful that I had that drive. Passion, tenacity, and hard work are all necessary but we can’t neglect rest from that equation.
Rest and work need to go hand in hand.
We see this in the Genesis account, Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. and Genesis 2:2 “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work”.
The creation story in Genesis 1 begins with nothing. The earth was empty + void. It also ends in Genesis 2:2 with nothing. On the 7th day he rested.
Our work has to begin from a place of rest. The Jewish day begins at sundown, why because they rest to work, not work to rest.
One Verse
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. - Genesis 2:2
One Thought From Me
Your day should begin from a place of rest. What in your schedule needs to shift to walk into work feeling rested?
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Until next time,
Manouchka Charles
