Rest

For today’s blog post, I wanted to share this post from Pete Greig. Pete is a writer, church-planter and co-founder of the 24-7 Movement. I have learned so much from Pete about prayer in recent years. I hope this challenge to rest is good for your soul today.

In His Grip,
Mike Toluba


Most of us run most of our lives like a totalitarian regime. We are dictators of a toxic culture that combines brutal utilitarianism with self-indulgent waste. This is neither a good way to run a country, nor a healthy way to run a happy life.

Since tiredness depletes us mentally, physically and spiritually, effective rest needs to soothe all three spheres:

1. our thinking

2. our doing

3. our being

So here are some deceptively simple keys to help us all take a real proper rest.

1. RESTING OUR THINKING

Your neural pathways are gridlocked right now - bumper to bumper with horn-honking, fume-breathing truckloads of data. It’s time to get off that hectic highway! Lazy country lanes await a gentler mental journey.

Switch off social media (I’ll be doing this just as soon as I’ve posted this!) Refuse to open emails. Put away those small screens if you possibly can. Slow down. Savour the small. Walk slowly. Talk slowly. Make coffee slowly. Your time off doesn’t have to be incredible. Amazing. Impressive. Allow margin in your day. If you continue living your life at the same pace on a day off that you do the rest of the week - frenetic in your having of fun - then your brain honestly won’t know the difference.

It’s also essential to minimize the number of choices you have to make today. Keep things as simple as you can. And definitely don’t make any big decisions while you’re tired. Your emotions will lie to you most eloquently in the coming hours. This is not the day to quit your job, renounce your faith, or propose to the girl on the bus.

2. RESTING OUR DOING

It’s not just your mind that is exhausted. Your physical body is also hurting. You need to sleep, of course, but also to exercise and eat well in order to rest well. The problem is that, because you have been working hard, you now feel entitled to slob out! But you will feel far happier in your body and clearer in your thinking after physical exercise and healthy food. You will also sleep much better tonight. Aerobic exertion is one of God’s greatest and most neglected ministry gifts to us all.

3. RESTING OUR BEING

And then, of course, your soul needs to be nurtured too. Extremely shy, it prefers quiet days like these and has probably been neglected and depleted of late. It’s entirely possible to return to work after time off with a rested body and a rested mind, but a soul that remains exhausted.

How do we address this? How do we attend to the heartlands of our inner world? Fill the house with music, and moments of deep silence too. Choose a bible verse to accompany you like a friend through the day. Waste time staring at a picture, or scrolling through personal photographs and giving thanks. Read a book (I find poetry especially good because it forces me to read reflectively). Get out in creation under a big sky. Participate in creation by drawing or cooking or making music.

Aim to make the entire day a slow and delightful conversation with the One who knows you best and loves you more than any other. He rested on the seventh day and thereby - according to Rabbi Abraham Heschel - made the architecture of time holy. The Creator is not a workaholic. He is not a slave-driver like Pharaoh. The pillar of cloud stops each evening. The wilderness wanderings take 40 years. Jesus wastes 30 years doing carpentry and going fishing before starting his public ministry. The Good Shepherd “makes me lie down in green pastures.” He makes me! “He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul”.