The Day of Rest

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Rest (noun)

1. the refreshing quiet or repose of sleep
2. refreshing ease or inactivity after exertion or labor
3. relief or freedom, especially from anything that troubles or disturbs
4. a period or interval of inactivity, repose, solitude, or tranquillity
5. mental or spiritual calm
6. the part that is left or remains; remainder
7. surplus
8. to continue to be
(from dictionary.com)

The Day of Rest

Sometimes I think it’s
funny
we call Sunday the
day of
rest.
 
For after a day of laundering
and cleaning
and shopping
and planning
I don’t feel very
rested.
 
I swiffer my kitchen floor and I
smile at how silly it all seems–
I clean and work and shop and cook
today
so that I may begin again
tomorrow,
dirtying the clothes and
messing up the kitchen
and eating
the food.
 
Where is the space
between
the cleaning and the dirtying,
the acquiring and the consuming?
 
Where is the rest?
 
And then I think…
maybe Sunday
is about a different kind
of rest:
Sunday is full of
what
remains.
 
Monday is a new project at work
and Tuesday is the school play
and Saturday is swimming and ballet.
 
And Sunday is the rest –-
homework and chores,
shopping and more –-
always the same:
math computation,
vacuum meditation,
meal organization.
And football on TV,
kids still in jammies at three,
giggles and snuggles,
“You’re the best, Mommy!”
Yes, but I must do
the laundry…
 
Maybe Sunday is
the reminder that after
I get dirty from
racing around
all week,
I find
a comfortable calm
in the
predictable peace
of all of
the rest.
 
 

*****

Sarah Rudell Beach
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