As I return from taking some time off of day-to-day life, I am grateful for the rest. While I love a good, solid routine, sometimes, I welcome the break. When we step away, we often can make space for reflection and rest. While many may wait for the end of a calendar year to reflect, reflection is actually an open door for us every day. As we’re halfway through the year, what better time than to take time to reflect and rest?

I’m inspired by this midyear reflection time by timely encouragement from Ann Voskamp. She says, “The best way to live a good year is to do a real reset just before you’re halfway through the year.”

I encourage us to ditch the checklists. Rather than looking back to see what we’ve done or what we haven’t done, let’s reflect on how we’ve grown. How have we encountered Christ in our lives, in the ups and even in the downs?

As I reflect, I wonder if it’s really already halfway through the year. It is, friends, and no matter if you’ve had ups or downs, with more ups than downs or more downs than ups, there is always room for us to grow. Sometimes, we need to slow down and make space for a reset in our lives.

We may not be able to change the past with the push of a button, but we can reset our priorities. We can do this by reflecting on what we enjoy or don’t enjoy about our daily routines and making time for rest.

For the second time, I am slowly making my way through reading each book of the Bible. I have to take time to process, so I go slower than most of those reader guides suggest, but I will say that some of those guides are wonderful if you’ve never tried one out before.

To me, there is no better way to reflect and rest than to listen to God speak through His Word. As we meditate on Scripture (Joshua 1:8) and make space for rest (Mark 6:31), we become refreshed.

I am at the beginning of the Old Testament right now, just finishing up Exodus, and I must say, there are so many gems of wisdom to take hold of. If we were sitting over coffee or tea together, here are some gems I’d share with you –

Exodus 2 reveals the meaning of Moses’ name. He was drawn out of the water, so he was called Moses. Later, Scripture says that Moses sat down by a well (Exodus 2:15). This is the perfect picture of rest to me. Imagine laying aside any trouble surrounding you, as was the case for Moses, and resting at the well. At the well, we find living water. At the well, we can always find Jesus.

Have you ever read all the instructions God gave for building the Tabernacle? Perhaps you were fascinated or overwhelmed by all the details.

Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.

Exodus 25:9

The sanctuary they were building for God was a shadow of what is in heaven (Hebrews 8:5). The Tabernacle was to be designed according to God’s exact pattern.

I am so glad Jesus came and represents the covenant of love in our lives. I’m also intrigued by God’s details and patterns. I want my rhythms of life to reflect the pattern of God’s Word. Jesus always invites us to rest with Him, and He always shares the blueprints of purpose with us. Need a copy of the blueprints? Let’s go and sit with Jesus. Meet Him at the well of your heart and rest in the Living Water.

I want to share one more gem with you. There’s a time for complete rest.

God instructed Moses that work was to be done for six days, but the seventh day was for rest (Exodus 31:15). While work was to be done, God’s pattern intertwined with rest. This complete rest on the Sabbath represents a time of refreshing for the LORD.

Need to be refreshed? Take some time to rest.