My mother informed me years ago that I did not like to sleep when I was a baby. She said I would lie awake in my crib for hours, make my baby noises, and look from side to side at everything.

I feel I have that same curiosity about the world and my surroundings still to this day, less the baby noises. Everyone needs to rest at some point in their daily routines and in their lives. Rest is restorative and healing. When we are in physical pain, we cannot rest, and consequently we cannot heal.

The Biblical concept of “Sabbath rest” comes from the Genesis account of the Creation. Genesis 2:2 says on the seventh day God rested from all the work of making everything. It follows; if God needs to rest, you and I must also need to rest.

Perhaps in the life of our nation, everyone needs to rest to heal. America needs to heal from the insurrection of January 2021, the COVID lockdown of 2020, the Chauvin verdict, and the ongoing turmoil of the previous administration.

When we rest, we heal. Let’s advocate for a Citizens’ Day of Rest that we may heal as a nation. The rest will do us all good!

James Weathersby

Augusta