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By Betsy Ore Glass

Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. –Psalm 62:5 NIV

A sweet neighbor and I visited this morning on the sidewalk. I have a little flower bed that has been neglected. It is on the top of my “to do” list to bring it back to life this fall. I shared my landscape ideas with my neighbor and she kindly offered to share some of her plants to get me started. The kind lady said that some of the plants would rest over the winter and may go completely dormant. But not to worry, while they are resting, they are developing good roots.

The word “rest” has popped up several times this week. People talking about needing it or not getting enough of it. The definition of rest is the refreshing quiet or repose of sleep, spiritual calm, tranquility, refreshing ease, relief or freedom from anything that troubles or disturbs. Many of us have had challenges we had to rise up to recently. Probably like many of you, I’ve taken time to re-group. To take stock of where I have been, where I am and to pray for direction for what God wants to do with me next. Seems recently there has been a season of change that has swirled around me like autumn leaves falling to the ground on a November day. And sometimes with change comes chaos, too many decisions, turmoil and the like. Followed by rest. Yes, sweet rest. At some point, things start to settle down. The pieces of the puzzle come together to form a beautiful picture.

Rest is a good word. It represents that the battle is over, the difficulty has subsided and peace awaits us. But rest is not always physical relief. We can have mental rest and give up a situation that our minds have been obsessing about for too long. We can also find spiritual rest by surrendering everything to God. Resting in Him means to totally trust Him. Whatever the situation is, it isn’t too big for God. His rest will restore us and nurture us so we can pick ourselves back up and head back out on our journey. (I find it interesting that within the word “restore” is “rest.”) Like my neighbor’s plants, I like to think our faith is growing deep spiritual roots when we rest in God.

Betsy Ore Glass has long-standing ties to the Outer Banks. From Virginia Beach, her family bought a vacation cottage in the 60s and her love of the area began. Later in the 90s, Betsy and her husband bought a weekend cottage and introduced the area to their children. Then Betsy’s parents retired to KDH where the family gathered often. Reach her at betsyglass1@gmail.com. To learn more about her new book, Reflections by the Sea, visit betsyoreglass.com.

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