Self-starter. Highly motivated. Over-achiever.
Exhausted. Anxious. Overwhelmed.
All these phrases have been used to describe me. Some of these phrases are positive; others are obviously negative. One does not ambition to be anxious. One does not ambition to be exhausted. But neither does one ambition to rest. One of the hardest things for a driven individual to do is stop. Stop working, stop playing, stop doing. It is not in my nature to stop.
And yet stop I must.
Last Friday, while splitting firewood, I managed to injure myself. With a broken thumb and full cast on my right hand, I have been forced to stop doing a lot of what I'm used to doing. In fact, there is not much activity in my immediate future that resembles my immediate past. For the next few months, there will be no woodworking, no leatherworking, no fishing, no archery, no playing guitar. For the next few months, there will necessarily be more rest.
I have never been good at observing a Sabbath or truly resting throughout my life. I am the kind of person who feels guilty after taking a brief catnap. I am the kind of person who never stops until the job is complete. I'm the kind of person who looks for things to do on his day off. That's what I was doing when I had my accident. Volunteer work on my day off for a conservation organization I serve landed me in the emergency room. The funny thing about change is that it usually doesn’t come with a warning. One minute I was enjoying life to the fullest, splitting firewood and enjoying the great outdoors. The next minute, I'm being rushed to the emergency room with more questions about my future and more pain than I've ever experienced. In the blink of an eye, God got my attention.
God commands us to rest. In Exodus chapter 20 we hear God's commandments as given to Moses. The first three of God's commandments help us understand our relationship with God. The last six of God's commandments help us understand our relationship with others. It is the fourth commandment, to remember the sabbath day and keep it holy, that is the bridge between these first three and last six Commandments.
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God… For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exodus 20: 8-11 excerpt, NIV)
The commandment to rest, to care for oneself, is the bridge between serving God and serving others faithfully. Why is it that we take God's other commandments so seriously, and almost completely ignore this commandment about self-care? It's as if we believe this commandment is not as important as the others. We don't put the same emphasis on our relationship with our self that we put on our relationships with God and with others. And while this may seem a noble way to behave, it is not a faithful way to behave. It is in fact ignoring God's word, God's law, an important commandment.
How many times each day are you guilty of worrying about something that is out of your control? How many times each day do you catch yourself focused on that which you cannot fix or even influence? Rather than being present in the moment and spending our energy on what our hands can actually do, we focus on that which is beyond our control. Anxiety is the condition we build for ourselves when we do not allow ourselves to be present and do not allow ourselves time to rest from the tasks that life presents. We invent our own anxious, worrisome, troubled lives. It is not the world that causes us to become anxious, it is we who anxiously engage the world at a speed God never intended us to run.
God commands us to rest, and we can either heed God's word or pay the price in the end. Rest is God's gift to humankind, and a condition of humankind that God shares in. God’s creation was not complete until he had taken a day of rest. God knows that we each need rest. What will it take for you to finally allow yourself a real Sabbath? I'm not speaking of a Sabbath that happens on a particular day of the week. I'm not speaking of a Sabbath that looks a particular way, follows a particular tradition, or aligns with a particular calendar. I’m speaking of a spiritual Sabbath that you engage intentionally, regularly, and with the utmost respect. Your mental, physical, and spiritual health requires Sabbath. And so does your God.
Join me throughout this season of Lent as we find practical ways to plan and implement real Sabbath rest into our over scheduled and overwhelming lives. The antidote to a world filled with anxiety is a God-given and God-blessed rest.
Blessings,
J.M.D.