by Michelle Sass Aleckson, @Jesses_girl4evr
Psalm 4
Answer me when I call to You, my righteous God
Give me relief from my distress; have mercy on me and hear my prayer.
How long will you people turn my glory into shame? How long will you love delusions and seek false gods?
Know that the LORD has set apart his faithful servant for himself; the LORD hears when I call to him.
Tremble and do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent.
Offer the sacrifices of the righteous and trust in the LORD.
Many, LORD, are asking, “Who will bring us prosperity?” Let the light of your face shine on us.
Fill my heart with joy when their grain and new wine abound.
In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone LORD, make me dwell in safety.
I don’t know about you, but lately there’s been a lot of stress, and it was affecting my writing. Of course it did. Stress affects everything. But I would sit to write and nothing was coming. I spent a lot of time staring at a blank screen.
And many of my writing friends were in similar predicaments. Between kids home doing distance learning, deadline crunches, overtime required in day jobs, many of us are struggling. And as a novelist on deadline, it seems counterproductive to step away from writing even for a moment.
But as I read David’s psalm here, I realized something: rest is an act of worship.
As believers and writers, I’m guessing many of you, like myself, see our writing as an act of worship. It’s a calling. Our job. And we want to do this as for the Lord.
We can typically see our actions, jobs, tasks, ministries, etc as acts of worship. But rest is also a form of worship.
Now, I’m not talking rest like binging on Netflix or procrastinating or avoiding tasks that need to be done. I’m talking about a Sabbath kind of rest. A purposeful rest that chooses to set aside the writing, set aside tasks, and focuses on the eternal for a set time. That may look like sitting with worship music and filling your soul with songs to God. It may look like prayer and Bible reading. It may be sitting with a friend in a coffee shop to hear about what she’s going through and praying together. It may mean spending purposeful time with your family. Or maybe it’s a walk through the woods in awe of God’s creation.
Whatever it is, if it is a conscious effort to say “I’m putting these tasks aside, trusting God has this, and I’m going to spend some precious time filling my soul with truth and beauty.” This is an act of worship.
We often like to think that action is worship. But sometimes quieting our soul to be in the presence of the LORD, declaring like David “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety” is the best thing for us.
And I bet you will see that reflect in your writing too. You will come to your story with a full heart and a rested mind. It can give us renewed energy for the task before us.
So dear friends, don’t feel badly if you need to put down the laptop, or the notebook and spend some time away from your story. You will come back refreshed and have so much more to give it after you have had some sacred rest.
Have a blessed Thanksgiving!
After growing up on both the east and west coasts and traveling the world, Michelle Sass Aleckson now enjoys living the country life in central Minnesota with her husband and four children. She loves rocking out to 80’s tunes on a Saturday night and playing board games with family and friends. She’s a graduate of Novel Academy’s Storycrafter course, and she won the 2018 Genesis Award for Romantic Suspense and the 2018 Cascade Award for Contemporary Fiction. Look for her debut novel with Sunrise Publishing in 2021. And in the meantime, you can connect with her at michellealeckson.com!