November 12, 2025 The Restless Dalmatian Upstairs
He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul.” - Psalm 23:2-3
Earlier this week, I was stirred awake at 5 a.m. by a persistent thumping on the ceiling. At once, I knew Hazel must be up to one of her “creative endeavors” earlier than usual. I begrudgingly began my wobbly, half-awake journey up the stairs to see what was going on.
I made it as far as the hallway before I saw the white and black spots of a Dalmatian-costumed Hazel, wearing fuzzy boots and scampering around.
“I couldn’t sleep,” she whispered.
Now, I don’t know about you, but when I can’t sleep, putting on a dog costume isn’t exactly the first thing that comes to mind. So I scooped the little pup into my arms, laid her back in her bed, and told her it was time to rest. She sighed deeply, flopped one Dalmatian ear over her eyes, and within ten minutes she was fast asleep again. All she needed was to be guided back to rest.
Guided back to rest - isn’t that what God does for us when He commands us to honor the Sabbath? He gently reminds us of the importance of rest and renewal. “But it’s 2025,” you might say. “Who has time for rest?”
I recently took an online class on sleep taught by renowned neuroscientist Matthew Walker of UC Berkeley. “Sleep is the elixir of life,” he says - yet a full one-third of people don’t get the sleep they need. What struck me most was when he warned, “We will have an impairment in at least one area of our waking life if we average six hours or less.” That stopped me in my tracks. My body needed rest, or something was going to break: maybe my focus, my patience, or my ability to problem-solve.
In other words, we were wired for rest! The biological and neurological need for rest mirrors the theological truth of rest: that God designed it into the very rhythm of creation.
That’s a hard thing to explain to a rest-resistant Dalmatian girl at 5 a.m., but God lays out limits, like taking a Sabbath rest, to enable our flourishing. These “enabling constraints” help us thrive in a fallen world that too often demands us to be unlimited.
So if you’re feeling that pressure right now, may you hear God’s invitation again: to reel in the margins of life, to build that buffer of peace, and to let Him guide you back to rest.
Reflect: When was the last time you truly allowed yourself to rest: body, mind, and spirit? What “enabling constraint” might God be inviting you to reclaim this week?
Pray: Gracious God, thank You for guiding us to still waters when our hearts race and our minds won’t rest. Help us trust Your design for Sabbath and believe that limits are gifts, not burdens. Quiet our spirits, restore our souls, and teach us again to rest in You. Amen.
With faith, hope, and love,
Eric Smith