I’m on spring break.  I’m a 30 year old woman who gets spring break.  Life is good, y’all!  Want to know the best part?  I get a TWO WEEK spring break!  Working for the schools is the best thing that has ever happened to having rhythms of rest in my life.  I don’t know how teachers take this for granted; it’s super amazing.

So, you all know me – type A to the core.  I’ve been making lists for weeks of all the things I wanted to accomplish over spring break.  I did this for fall break and for Christmas break (seriously school employees, life is good, right?).  And I returned to work feeling like I had accomplished a lot, but not feeling rested.

But last week, when I admitted to myself and the world that I was in need of rest – not sleep rest, soul rest – I started to get worried that I would waste this opportunity to get refreshed over a to-do list.

And so, I decided to push the to-do list aside (not totally aside, just a little aside) so that I could find rest.

And I made some spring break rules.  Want to see them?

Each day of spring break, I need to do at least 5 of the 9 on this list.  I have to do something:

creative

generous

healthy

intellectual

productive

relational

restful

spiritual

spontaneous

… And it’s been great.  No, I haven’t accomplished all of the things on my to do list, (but it’s only Thursday of the first week), but I am feeling less frantic.  I’m also feeling less planned, which is good.  Adding that spontaneous agenda item to my to-do list has been good for me.

On Monday, I went to a concert that didn’t start til 10pm because I didn’t have to get up early the following day and because the Local Natives are worth it.

On Tuesday, I spontaneously decided to take a retreat from my phone, it was fabulous.  I also busted out my keyboard and played it for a long time.  That was good for my soul.

On Wednesday, I spent a whole lot of time outdoors, weeding and letting God remind me of  goodness through nature.

Today, I spent a lot of time thinking and writing.  And I watched SLU start their domination of the NCAA Championship.

So, there it is, my rules for rest.

What about you?  How do you plan for rest?  Do you have rules that keep you accountable to rest?