“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work . . .”
Exodus 20:8-10a (NIV)
Most Americans would assume that rest means sleep. We are nightly worrying about or doctoring symptoms of sleep deficits. However, rest can be used as an all-encompassing term for how a person treats their body, mind, and soul throughout their daily lives. Are we giving space for our minds to decompress, process, and heal from high-stress jobs and situations in our daily lives? Are we navigating healthy patterns of behavior that allow the body the ideal amount of rest & sleep needed to serve the person it holds? Lastly, are we practicing meditation/prayer for our soul to recoup from the difficulties of this life? Basically, are the practices we have in place conducive to healthy restful living?
Tara Parker-Hope summed up rest beautifully in her article, “You’re Brain Needs More Rest Than You’re Giving It” when she said, “True rest, say experts, is not just about being sedentary or in the prone position — it’s also about giving your brain the restorative breaks it needs to function at an optimal level. While adequate sleep is essential to brain health, many forms of rest involve activity, not slumber” (2023). Part of changing the narrative about rest is first recognizing that rest is not just about passive practices like sleeping or doing nothing (watching TV, gaming, social media) while lying down. Many times, maintaining rest is more about practicing restorative activities to fill our time throughout the day.
Some of those activities that can restore rather than deplete are healthy hobbies :
- gardening,
- crafting,
- cooking/baking,
- DIY projects,
- collections,
- arts,
- weekend getaways
- or mini vacations (8 days or less) etc.
In terms of restorative physical activities, it can include:
- exercise
- walks
- house chores
- manual labor around the house
- power naps (no longer than 15 mins).
Lastly, rest for the spirit can involve :
- prayer
- meditation
- scripture reading
- worship
- singing/karaoke
- yoga
- pilates
These are low-impact activities that calm the spirit yet invigorate the body. We can usually tell the difference between work and rest by how much mental strain it puts on the body. A person could work at home from their computer, put very little strain on their physical body, and still put a heavy strain on the mind. This heavy strain ultimately affects the body and will keep the body from resting.
I find that I quickly forget how important rest is to my life. This is especially true when I am starting a new project or have found myself knee-deep in a great idea. I will spend hours creating, planning, and using my mental energy. So much so that it will take precedence to my rest. I excuse the bad habit for the virtue of good intentions.
This past weekend, I was so excited about the launching of my new art journal for pre-teens and teens that I worked way too many hours on the computer. Sunday, which is supposed to be a day of rest had turned into a full day of work and prep. I laid my head down to rest at night and my conscience was pricked by the Word of God. He asked me in a gentle voice, “Did your mind and body rest today? Did you honor me?”
I don’t think many of us correlate rest with honoring God. We can correlate the day Saturday/Sunday with honoring God by going to church, listening to scripture, and worshipping with like-minded believers, but the act of resting is something I don’t think many correlate with honoring God. But what is the Sabbath defined as originally? Was it defined as a day to go to church or work at the church or was it defined as a day of rest? How has our Western concept of rest defined how we interact with our sabbath and is it truly biblical?
Two characteristics of the Sabbath help us answer this question from a spiritual perspective rather than a legalistic perspective. Meaning how these laws of the sabbath apply to each person will depend on how the laws relate to their unique situations. These two aspects are that (1) the sabbath is a set apart day (Genesis 2:2- holy day) and (2) a day of rest from work (Exodus 31:14). These are so pivotal to rest on the sabbath that they are reinforced in the New Testament, Hebrews 4 passage for Christian believers to follow.
Rest is defined as the intentional action of unplugging from not just our jobs but from our weekly stresses, worries, and responsibilities by intentionally enjoying life’s simple pleasures.
Work is defined as not just the act of doing our jobs, but it’s the weekly stresses, worries, and responsibilities that come with our daily lives.
Therefore, a person can tell if they are resting on the sabbath by asking themselves one simple question: Am I picking up the week’s worries, stresses, or responsibilities right now or am I laying them down at the Cross to enjoy the simple pleasures life has to offer me today by focusing on my mental health, my home, and my relationships in order to recharge from the busy week?
God reminded me Sunday night that I lost balance in my life with Him by losing balance between work and rest. To honor God- I am learning- is to honor yourself through the laws He designed for us to live. Laws that are meant to prosper us, elevate us, and give us an expected end (Jeremiah 29:11). I am learning that God only wants the very best for us, and that means that rest is just as vital to our lives as work is.
The consequences of living a balanced life between work and rest are life-giving. According to Integris Health in their article Why it’s Important to allow yourself to Rest, “If left untreated, long-term stress can cause chest pain, headaches, digestive issues, anxiety, depression, changes in sexual desire and inability to focus. It may not seem like a big deal to skip relaxation in your daily routine. However, there are several benefits to daily rest and relaxation:
- reduced stress and anxiety
- improved mood
- decreased blood pressure
- chronic pain relief
- improved immune health
- stronger cardiovascular system (2021).
Hebrews 4:11 warns us that to disobey the law of rest means shortening our life. We are learning that when people spend their whole lives focusing on work, they live significantly shorter lives. They usually died from causes that could very well have been prevented.
John Ross in his article Only the Overworked Die Young with the Harvard Health Blog wrote, “Researchers from University College London compiled data on the relationship between working hours and heart attack risk in over 600,000 workers, as well as similar data on stroke risk in over 500,000 workers. They adjusted their data to compensate for individual workers’ differences due to health behaviors, such as smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity, and also adjusted for the presence of other cardiac risk factors, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol. They found that those who worked more than 55 hours per week had a 13% greater risk of a heart attack, and were 33% more likely to suffer a stroke, compared with those who worked 35-40 hours per week. The elevated risk of heart attack with longer work hours was only seen in workers with low socioeconomic status. The heart attack risk in high-wage workers who worked long hours was similar to that of high-wage workers who had normal work hours. Stroke risk was higher in all those who worked long hours, regardless of their socioeconomic status” (2015).
God wants us to not only live life but live it enjoyably. and enjoy the quiet moments just as much as we do the exciting and hectic moments.
I don’t want to dishonor God by losing balance in my work/rest life. One cannot exist without the other, and God designed it that way. The truth is that we are tempted to dishonor God in so many different ways, but rest is a sneaky one because busyness and hard work are viewed as virtues in our culture. If we forsake the care of ourselves for the sake of others, we are a saint. But God does not see it that way. I’d rather die in old age with a rested body and soul than die knowing that all I needed to do to live a little longer was to take a nap and hobby just a little bit more.