Rest: Discovering a Good Word
by Ken Idleman
In my late thirties I was body-slammed by the very real consequences of my workaholic inclination. It was a long time coming.
It began back in junior high school. Starting the summer after my seventh-grade year I was driving an old Cushman motor scooter (without a driver’s license/license plates) five miles out in the country between St. Joseph, IL and Sidney, IL every day, five days a week, to work for a farmer, cutting corn out of the beans, weeds out of the corn, and bailing hay. I would get home at the end of the day, change into my little league uniform and head for a ball diamond to play baseball for the Champaign County Seed Company until sundown. I maintained this kind of schedule in the summer for four years. Then, by my junior year in high school, farming was replaced by building houses for Weller Construction Company in Champaign, IL. And finally, the summer after my senior year, it was apartment maintenance for the Federal Housing Authority. During the school season it was classes all day followed by football, basketball, and track practice until dark, then homework until bedtime. Even church life felt like work. There was Wednesday night prayer meeting, Sunday morning Bible School and worship and, of course, Sunday evening youth group and worship. (I never once got to see the annual CBS showing of The Wizard of Oz!)
Now in my seventies, looking back, I realize how hard work and constant activity defined my life during my formative years. I got it genetically. Mother worked as both a homemaker and an interior decorator (wallpapering and painting). My father worked the graveyard shift (midnight-8:00) for the Illinois Central Railroad and picked up extra construction work whenever he could.
I don’t remember days off or vacations. I remember an occasional pitch-and-catch session with dad in the back yard and snapping green beans from the garden with mom on the back porch. My mother was not going to raise any lazy kids! She succeeded with me, both of my brothers and my sister.
But one day, at age 38, I discovered a good word: rest. I learned it the hard way. I had been going strong for weeks without a day off during a particularly demanding leadership season. And then there was the cumulative effect of several years without taking a family vacation. Standing in the shower that morning I had something of a meltdown that motivated me to become more familiar with the significance of shabbat (Hebrew) or sabbath (English), which means to cease from work/to rest. Here’s what I found:
God commanded it: (Exodus 20:8-11) we take a day off each week to hit the internal reset button, worship and spend time with people we love.
We need it: when this commandment is not obeyed and when this need goes unmet, we will experience definite consequences in more than one aspect of life.
There are different kinds of rest: we tend to identify rest as sleep, but sabbath rest is much more. Sabbath rest is at least…
Physical rest - It releases tension and restores calm to the physical body. It helps our bodies find relief from all those aches and pains that we often ignore. It replenishes our energy reserves. It keeps us from feeling exhausted and helps us sleep. It keeps us from depleting our immune system and getting sick. It helps us maintain dispositional self-control.
Mental rest - You stop forcing your brain to work hard and give it some time to process information, make connections, and cement memories. It is essential for effective learning and the maintenance of our “peace of mind.”
Relational rest - Even Jesus fasted/rested from people. He practiced solitude to get away from the non-stop demands of well meaning, but needy, people. It meant withdrawing from both the drainers (the crowds) and even the replenishers (His disciples).
Emotional rest - We tend to underestimate how important this is to our leadership equilibrium. We recognize that our physical and spiritual tanks should be running at three quarters to full, but we neglect to check whether our emotional tank is well supplied. There must be some time in a week for fun and games, engaging in activities or hobbies that we enjoy.
Spiritual rest - Last but not least … right? Sabbath will give us a greater sense of belonging, connectedness, and purpose in the world. Making space for this rest will infuse our lives with both meaning and fulfillment. This impresses our dependence on the power of the Holy Spirit to inspire the energy in us to serve and lead dynamically.
So, have you found yourself in a deficit position with respect to rest these days? Overcommitted? Overstressed? Under-resourced? Under-appreciated? Draw a circle. Step inside it. Say to yourself, “I have no control over what happens outside of this circle, but I have complete control over what happens inside of this circle.” And begin to bring balance into your life by beginning to value sabbath rest enough to build it into your schedule without apology. Take care of you so you can take care of the people in your life, your nuclear family and your church family.
