The force of her exhale matches her need for a breath of sweet solitude. Who cares if it’s on the toilet?

Then it happens. Tiny fingers slide beneath the locked door, and it’s over.

Hidden moms everywhere know the drill. Relentless demands encroach on the solitude of the most sacred personal spaces. When tiny fingers become teenage hands on the steering wheel, the demands don’t always lessen. They become different, and in my experience, this continues as our nests empty and theirs fill.

When Needs Don’t Rest

Kids or not, women need rest. Even when the needs don’t rest, we must.

When Jesus sent His disciples “out two by two and gave them authority over the unclean spirits” (Mark 6:7, ESV), they went from place to place, preached the gospel of repentance, and “cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them” (Mark 6:13, ESV). The text doesn’t specify, but it seems to imply they were gone for some period of time.

Reunited with Jesus, I imagine his head was on a swivel as he tried to keep up with the stories of what they’d done and said. Did the volume reach a feverish pitch as they vied for his attention? Did they repeat, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus” like we hear “Mom, mom, mom”?

Imagine their spiritual high and exhaustion as the people continued to come and go to the point that the disciples “had no leisure even to eat” (Mark 6:31b, ESV).

Have you been here? Are you there now, where you have no leisure even to potty in private or grab a bite to eat? Jesus’ invitation to his disciples is his invitation to us: “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while” (Mark 6:31a, ESV).

Like the disciples, we can accept. We can come away with Jesus and rest a while, not to stream Netflix or scroll through our social media feeds. There’s nothing wrong with temporary distractions that deliver momentary relief, but they do not offer the real rest Jesus invites us to experience in and with him—the kind that renews our souls, refreshes our hearts, refills our spirits, and restocks our physical reserves.

I believe Jesus’ invitation to his disciples reveals his best for real rest, where we receive what he knows we need for what he knows is next.

His Best for Real Rest

Come away

We may perceive this as a kind suggestion, but it’s more of an urgent imperative. Jesus created us. He knows our physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental need for real rest.

For a while

I’m a formula lover, but the ambiguous nature of “a while” settles like peace in my soul, because rest doesn’t take a set amount of time. It might be brief, extended, or even for a season. The key isn’t longevity. It’s the “while” Jesus knows we need.

To a desolate place

This is a place of solitude. A place deserted of demands and distractions for your “while.”

By yourself

Alone is good when we can get there, but I appreciate that Jesus extended his invitation to rest to the twelve. When life doesn’t allow us to be absent all other people, we can still get alone with Jesus in our hearts and thoughts. Colossians 3:3 tells us our “life is hidden with Christ in God.” Surrounded by people, our inner man can hide itself in the secret, sacred place of “hidden with Christ” to be filled with his fullness in miraculous ways. For me, this can look like a house full of kids and grandkids, simultaneous conversations, endless questions, hungry mouths, and lots of activity, but inside—in my heart and thoughts—I step away and talk to Jesus. I focus on his face. His provision. His enough-ness in my not-enough. His peace. His joy. I’m present physically amid the busy chaos, but inside, I’ve stepped away with Jesus for a while to rest.

Rest for What’s Next

Real rest restores us for what lies before us.

The needy crowds didn’t just follow Jesus and his disciples where they went. They “got there ahead of them” (Mark 6:33, ESV). Do you ever feel like that? You come away for a while to a desolate place by yourself with Jesus, and when you step back into the activity of your day, your needs beat you there. How do you respond? I confess I can quickly lose my rest and become irritable.

But not Jesus. He had compassion on the people. When the disciples suggested he send them away to get their own dinner on their way home—when we want to send everyone away so they won’t need us anymore—Jesus said, “You give them something to eat” (Mark 6:37, ESV).

Jesus multiplied the not-enough fish and the not-enough bread, and it became more than enough. “They all ate and were satisfied” (Mark 6:42, ESV), including the exhausted, hungry disciples.

Do you see? We must rest because Jesus has something he wants us to do for others, and when we do it, we are satisfied. When there isn’t enough of us to go around, we can give Jesus what we do have and let him make it enough. When we receive real rest in Jesus, we can take what isn’t enough and experience his miraculous provision to compassionately meet others’ needs.

Relentless demands require real rest, because the needy always need; not us, but what Jesus wants to supply through us.