by Rhonda Rhea @RhondaRhea

When people say you should dress for the life you want, my inner self tells me to put on jammies. I think my inner self is a little tired. I’ve also considered the possibility that my inner self is at least a little bit cat.

Naps. Glorious, naps.

But while that midday nap is famously fabulous, could I complain a minute about the wakeup? I’m gunna just rest my eyes. That’s how it starts. Next thing I know, only one of those eyes will reopen and I don’t know if it’s morning or…Thursday. I look in the mirror—mostly to make sure I am who I think I am. Was my hair this color when I dozed off? Are those new wrinkles? What year is this? I’m Nap Van Wrinkle.

Does it happen to you? You wake up and your legs won’t work for a full three minutes and you feel like it’s probably 2094?

By far the most bemusing Nap-Haver of all time, however, has to be our Jesus. “As he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. Suddenly, a violent storm arose on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves—but Jesus kept sleeping. So the disciples came and woke him up, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We’re going to die!’ He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, you of little faith?’ Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm” (Matthew 8:23-26 CSB).

A storm so violent everyone on board was in sheer, we’re-all-gunna-die panic. Everyone except Jesus. Who, on the other side of the boat, and the other side of the spectrum, napped. The disciples still had some growing to do in the faith department. I wonder if they felt silly after He calmed that outrageous storm. I wonder if they thought of that moment at sea when Jesus later said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30 CSB).

Anytime my silly soul is tempted to find genuine, to-the-heart rest in anything or anyone other than my Lord, I remind that silly soul that the same Jesus who commanded the sea to settle down can bring the same “great calm” to my spirit. He is our one true source of rest. As David testified in Psalm 62:1, “I am at rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him” (CSB).

We rest in Him when we trust in Him. How marvelous it is to know no one is more trustworthy. Our trust is its safest when it fully rests in Him. “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will remain secure and rest in the shadow of the Almighty [whose power no enemy can withstand]. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust [with great confidence, and on whom I rely]!’” (Psalm 91:1-2 AMP).

When it comes to rest, I think I still have some growing to do. I think I can do better. I’m going to ponder that rest today. Know what? I might even sleep on it.

Rhonda Rhea is an award-winning humor columnist for great magazines such as HomeLife, Leading Hearts, The Pathway, and many more. She is the author of 19 books, including the popular romantic comedies co-authored with her daughter Kaley Rhea, Off-Script & Over-Caffeinated and Turtles in the Road. Rhonda and Kaley have also teamed up with Bridges TV host Monica Schmelter for the Messy to Meaningful books and TV projects. Along with Beth Duewel, Rhonda writes the Fix Her Upper series, and she also co-authored Unruffled: Thriving in Chaos with Edie Melson. She speaks at conferences and events from coast to coast, serves on many boards and committees, and stays busy as a publishing consultant. Rhonda says you can find her living near St. Louis drinking too much coffee and snort-laughing with her pastor/husband, five grown children, and a growing collection of the most exceptional grandbabies.