Rest is satisfaction, contentment, peace. Rest is tranquillity, serenity, composure, calmness, comfort, security. To rest is to be untroubled, unworried; to be supported, strengthened, cheered. God looked upon His perfect creation, saw that it was "very good," and "rested on the seventh day." The seventh day thus represents completeness. Only a complete or perfect creation could satisfy the divine Mind, God, who knows all.
Rest, to be really satisfying and strengthening, must be, like all other good qualities, the reflection of God's rest. Satisfaction with work well done brings divine rest. Mortals complain of broken rest and lack of rest; and often it is because they are endeavoring to stop satisfied with a material, temporal, shadowy, incomplete sense of things. They are trying to find satisfaction where there is none, to find "peace, peace; when there is no peace." Only the progressive comprehension of God's good creation can ever bring permanent satisfaction and rest to mankind.
Since God's good creation is eternal and always present, it follows that our proper rest is always at hand. A state of strained or excited activity, often resulting in a state of reaction, indicates a belief in the absence of at least a part of God's goodness. But God's goodness is not absent in part or at times; the unity and infinity of good prevent that. Again, mortals may believe that monotony brings them weariness. But why should there be any monotony, when God's goodness is so abundant? There are ever fresh supplies of thoughts proceeding forth from immeasurable intelligence.
