Ep. 4.19 Sunday Comes First: A Counter-Cultural Rest First Mindset

We’ve got a truly counter-cultural mindset for you today on the AU podcast. Rest comes first! What does that mean? What does it look like in our lives? How can we accomplish this with so much else going on? What does it say about God if we don’t rest? Learn how to live truly against the grain and in step with the truth of God on this week’s podcast.

6:36-6:48 Why we worry about resting

9:15-9:39 God to me to God

13:23-13:35 Best question for Sundays

15:21-15:51 What are your limits?

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Hello, and welcome to today's episode
of the Authentic Uprising podcast.
I'm your host Jill Simons, and I'm so
excited to grow in the radical art
of standing in what God says
about you with you today.
The show is a place where we
pour into the sense of who God is,
who we are, and how we can live
more in the freedom that He
has for us every
single day.
Hello and welcome to today's episode
of the Authentic Uprising podcast.
As always, I'm your
host, Jill Simons,
and I'm so happy to be
here with you today.
I am going to be talking with
you today about a topic that if
you had told me two years ago was
going to be a topic of a podcast
I was gonna do, I would
have been, like, wait what.
Because nothing could be
further from my lifelong default
mindset than the topic of
today's episode and that is this
really simple idea that has
just captivated my imagination
and led me down this very long
rabbit hole that I think has
been really fruitful. And that is
the idea that Sunday comes first.
Simple simple premise,
basic statement, a fact,
Sunday is considered
the first day of the week.
But I want to, as I so often
do go deeper on this idea and
really extend the metaphor here even
though it's not really a metaphor,
but extend this idea, the fact
that Sunday is the first day of
the week and look at what that means
for a counter cultural view of rest.
A lot of us are comfortable with the mindset
that we start the week on Monday,
work all week, maybe finish up
all our work at home on Saturday
and take a rest on Sunday. And this is
what we see in the creation narrative.
So to be fair, not like,
against what is in the Bible.
What I'm going to be sharing
with you today is not what I'm
gonna call dogmatic theology. It's not like
required that you believe this.
But if you do believe this, I
think it teaches you something
extremely helpful about yourself
and extremely helpful about God.
And that is why I think it's worth
talking about because nothing
ties more deeply into what we
believe about ourselves and where
we differ from how God sees us
in what we think about rest.
Rest is something that a lot of
people talk about in our society.
But I think if you, like really
pushed people on whether or
not they felt like they knew how
to rest well the majority of
people would say that they don't really
have a comfort level with that.
They don't really know if
they've rested, how to rest,
kind of what that looks
like in their lives.
And maybe I just know people
that workaholics,
maybe that's not experience in your
life. So let me know in the comments.
If yet, you feel like that is true
for your circle or for yourself.
Maybe, I just live in, like, a commune
of workaholics. Could be.
But that has been my experience
for most life is that people
around me are not
typically great resters.
And so I didn't feel like it was really
modeled for me a lot how to rest well.
And to the extent, I think
that for most of my life,
I looked at I really
looked down on rest.
I looked at it like something
that was sort of weak to need
or sort of I wanna use
an accurate adjective here,
but sort of like
disappointing.
If you were a person that needed
to rest frequently, like,
that was just not living
up to your potential.
I think that that's the most
accurate statement I can make is
that if you were resting on
a regular basis, you were actively,
like leaving stuff on the table,
not living up to your potential,
not doing everything that
you are capable of doing.
And so when this idea, the simple
statement was put to me that
Sundays come first. That was such
an like epiphany to really explore.
Gosh, what what would
it mean in my life,
if I thought about living
the week truly Sunday to Saturday.
Where I was starting the week, the first
day of the week was about resting,
and then I did the work. And this is
supported throughout the lives of,
you know, holy men and
women throughout history.
And most recent example would be
Mother Teresa where you know,
she was serving the poor and the dying
in Calcutta along with her order.
And so you would think
that in a city,
just endless essentially amounts
of people needing care,
end of life care especially,
how she would be you,
constantly inundated with
the opportunity to work.
And so you'd think that maybe
the sisters pulled really long
days, that they
would, you know,
go on little sleep in order to
serve people as much as possible.
And when you look at the actual schedule
of the Missionaries of Charity,
which is her religious order that
she had founded there in Calcutta,
that is not the case. They
had extended times of prayer,
long extended
times of prayer.
They had times of repose for
the sisters, scheduled times of rest,
and they slept a relatively full
night sleep on a regular basis.
And you look at how that how that
community has had a sustained
impact in Calcutta and
around the world.
And Mother Teresa shares frequently
that a lot of that is due
to a culture of rest. And I
think that that ultimately
leads back to what makes us
uncomfortable about rest?
What is it that we're worried
about if we rest.
And ultimately, I believe that
we worry about resting because
we think that everything
depends on us.
We talked a couple of
weeks ago about beliefs.
And if you believe that
you cannot take...
An entire day of rest, you need to look
at or I would encourage you to look at.
I don't wanna tell
you what to do.
But I would encourage you to look at
what beliefs do you have about rest.
What do you think it says about
you as a person if you rest.
What do you think of that it says
about God if you cannot rest?
And I think ultimately for many of
us, I'll just speak for myself,
this was my own journey on
rest. I absolutely believed
that if you rested, you were kind
of leaving things up to chance,
you were not being fully in
control of the situation and that
lack of control was something
to be looked down upon.
I really worshipped, unintentionally,
but in reality,
I did worshipped this
idea of control.
Because I wanted to do my project
in front of me as well as
possible and then present it to God.
I had this me to God mentality.
And so it was not like
I was an atheist.
It's not like I was
devoid of Christianity.
It was simply that I had everything
that flipped on where it comes from.
Because what I've realized is
that we actually instead of being
the creators who give to God,
we are actually the receptors
that receive from God. And
in order to be receptive,
we have to stop
moving sometimes.
If we are constantly
in motion,
we can miss what God is trying
to give us on a regular basis.
And so there's all kinds of times that
God is trying to just hand us things
and we are too busy running around
that we can't take it from Him.
And the times when we receive from God
are the times when we are resting.
And that is ultimately why I
have realized that it is so
foundational to believe and to practice
from the place of Sundays coming first.
We need to be thinking about
receiving from God first and then
giving to Him only from what
we've received because there's
no me making something new
and giving it to God.
Ultimately, no matter
how it shakes down,
everything is received from
God and then given back to Him
down to our very lives. We can
do nothing apart from Him.
Whether we admit that or not, it
is the reality of the situation.
And so how much more powerful to
be intentional about creating
the space to receive, so that we
can be aware of the fact that
we're receiving and
giving back to God.
That's another place where like
we've talked about throughout
the last couple of months where
when God is trying to rescue us
we don't wanna be
fighting Him.
We don't wanna be trying to kick
the lifeguard off of us while we're drowned.
We want to allow Him to move
us to where we need to go.
And part of that is receptivity being
receptive to the fact that He
is trying to save us. He wants
to give us His saving grace
and His presence in our lives as
well as even more concrete things.
He wants to give us
solutions to our problems.
He wants to give us
prayerful paths forward.
He wants to give us inspiration
for the work that it is that
He's calling us to do. And
what happens so much is, say, we are
trying to create a ministry,
create a project for God.
And so we just run around with our
heads down, like, oh, my gosh.
What's it gonna be? I can't think
of an idea. I can't think of a name.
I can't think of this. I'll
just, you know, try harder,
brainstorm more and just kind of
move into this place of, like,
effort effort effort effort. And I
have this image of God just like,
holding a piece of paper
with everything we need.
And He's following us, like, as we
just run around all over the place.
And if we ever stopped at
some point and then like,
what what do you have for me on this, He
would just hand us the piece of paper.
And it's not always that way.
It's not like we just can always
expect a direct download of
everything that God had for us.
There's been lots of times where
I've gone to Him in prayer
and in rest and been like,
what do I do? What is next?
And He's just said, you know, I
want you to keep coming to me,
I want you to maintain
this posture of receptivity.
Even past Sunday, I want you
to stop putting in all of this
effort to try and
create something,
and I want you to actually understand
what it is to receive from me.
Want you to actually understand
what it means to wait on the Lord,
and that's really hard
for a lot of us.
But I know that there is so much
potential fruit in our lives.
And even just like no faith
background at all, like,
medically this is helpful. To
have this rest first mentality
of giving our body what it needs, giving
our body the time that it needs,
the sleep that it needs,
the water that it needs,
all these things that get pushed to
the side because we're so busy,
having a first principle of
starting with these things,
starting our week with these
things sets us up to be receptive
to those things
throughout the week.
How many people do you know
like meal prep on Sundays where
they get all of the healthy
food ready for the week.
And I think that that's something people
can get very like legalistic about Sundays.
Like, can you do this?
Can you do that?
Is this okay for Sunday?
Is that okay for Sunday?
And I think that that's ultimately
super unhelpful because
it again is like all that like, what do
I do and energy and control and like,
let me make this. Let me rest better
than anyone has ever rested.
Like, that is totally out
of the spirit of it.
I think the best question for
Sundays is what do you get to
do because you are the child of
God. That's how I run my Sundays.
Hundred and ten percent what do you get
to do because you are a child of God.
Sometimes that means
you take a nap.
Sometimes that means that you
prepare healthy food for the week
because that's something that you
have access to as a child of God,
something that you get
the privilege to do.
But no matter what it is, it's not
from this energy of control.
It's from this energy of what is this
privilege that I experience.
Because I'm a child of God, and
it's obviously not exclusive,
you know. This isn't the kind of
privilege that cuts other people out.
This is universally available
privilege to anyone who steps
into that child relationship with
God through the sacrament of baptism.
And when you look at
Sundays that way,
you can kinda leave behind the legalism
and, you know, can I mow the lawn?
Can I do this and that
and the other thing?
And move into a place of
what do you you get to do.
And sometimes that means that
there's things that are, like,
quote unquote on the to do list
that don't get done on Sundays.
I think it means that
more often than not,
where if you've had a crazy week, you
are rundown, you've had no time,
and it's something like I
really should mow the lawn.
If that is something that is like life
giving to you, then mow that lawn,
go get it. But if that's something
that is just another, like,
frustrating, painful item on
your to do list after you are
already at the end of your
rope, don't do it on Sunday.
You know, it is okay to
live within your limits.
It's okay to live within
what bandwidth you have,
because I can guarantee you that
if you truly rest on Sunday,
then during the week, when there is
that window of time may be available,
then you are so much more able to do
that with some level of joy and peace,
then if you gutted
it out on Sunday.
And so obviously, there's mountains
of individual discernment
that are needed with this. And
so that is why it's not helpful
to have a podcast like here's
the do and don't list for Sundays.
There's those things on
the Internet list from Pinterest,
like do and don'ts
on Sundays.
Maybe if that's helpful to you,
then you can check them out,
but I don't like things like that.
I like to ask the question,
what do I get to do because
I am a child of God.
What is it that is available to
me because I'm not trying to
control everything. And I think
a lot of the fear of this
mindset comes from
the founding of I know. I...
All of you know, I'm
in the United States,
and there's a huge culture of
work ethic, the American dream,
all that good stuff in
the American culture.
And I think there's this idea
that we are going to become lazy
people if we truly
rest on Sunday.
If we think about
resting first,
like that just creates slothful,
lazy people that don't contribute
to society and don't get anywhere
in life, etcetera, etcetera.
There are definitely lazy
people, hundred percent.
That's not, everybody
knows that.
But I am pretty darn confident
that those lazy people
are not being created by intentionally
resting with God on Sundays.
I think that intentionally resting
with God on Sundays is what
empowers us to not
be lazy people.
To not be people that are so
fully completely tapped out that
we can't even do our lives come
Monday morning because we are
just constantly rushing
constantly controlling.
Taking this rest on Sunday allows
us to live from a place of
someone greater peace,
and so much greater joy,
the rest of our week that we're able to
do the work that is in front of us,
with so much more presence of mind
and so much more just healthy,
spiritual attachment
to that work.
Wanting to do it, in so much as it
is good and what God has put
in front of us that it's good to
work. It's good for our souls.
It's good for our bodies. But it's
also not the essence of who we are.
It's also not ultimately
what gives us worth.
And both things can be
true at the same time.
And I think again, we've talked about
this so many times on the podcast.
So tempting to just like melt
into an extreme to just say, oh,
my gosh. That, you know, you
can never rest because we are
worried about lazy people or
everything needs to be like,
on your your own schedule and
only when you want to and just
this culture of of
laziness, basically.
The the answer again is in the middle
where it is very important
to rest and it's very important
to do the work placed in front
of you to be faithful to your vocation.
If you're a husband and a father,
you need to you need to work.
You need to have job.
And you need to provide
for your family,
and that might be true
for mothers as well.
Maybe your work is in the home
that you are needing to provide
for your kids on
a regular basis,
but rest needs to be prioritized at the family
level for each of the people in it.
Children need time when they're not
playing sports, not doing homework,
not going to school. Adults need
time where they are free
to do their leisure
activities that they enjoy,
not things that are going to stress
them out even more or be mindless,
kind of time sucks, but things that
are actually invigorating to their souls.
Time and prayer, time and
nature, time, you know,
working out or
nourishing their body,
praising God for the gift of their
body by doing those things.
And so regardless of
where you fall right now.
I want to encourage you that it
is possible to live this way
It is possible to take your
rest first on Sundays.
Start the week with that
day, even in your mind,
and then live from that place
where you know that you're going
to get the rest
that you need.
And it is not an endless race where
you are not without reprieve,
without leisure, without
time to be refilled.
Logistically, that
can be challenging,
but it's worth fighting through
the logistical issues.
If you are, you know, a family
in the early stages of young
kids and stuff like
that, trade off.
Have you know, one person
have some time on Sunday,
two hours or something like that
to truly do what it is that
they enjoy doing and then switch,
do the same for the other person.
Maybe one of you, that's
gonna involve like,
something you can do with the kids,
something out nature, something like that.
But if it doesn't, if that's not
for you, don't push it. Again,
this is about you as
an individual,
not and and relating to God
being a child of God and not,
you as mom needing to
be on all the time.
Because that's what
ultimately burns us out,
creates this false narrative that our
control is the most important thing.
It's actually our surrender and
a receptivity to God that is the most
important thing and of the most
powerful ways we can nourish
that is by resting first.
Let me know in the comments.
If you already do this, if you're
interested in getting started,
if you think that
I am insane.
Whatever it is, let me know in
the comments because I'd love
to continue this conversation
about rest with you.
I hope that you have a great week,
and I'll talk to you soon.
Thank you so much for joining
me on today's episode of the
Authentic Uprising podcast. It
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