The Secret To Rest
What’s the secret?
When people hear that I’ve written a book all about rest, usually the first thing they ask me is ‘What’s the secret to a restful life?’
It seems like everyone is always looking for that easy ‘life-hack’ or ‘quick fix’ solution for every problem these days, doesn’t it?
But really, isn’t that just another symptom of the hurry in our lives? Often we don’t even really want to invest the time it takes to properly engage with the issues in order to make any meaningful changes in our lives. We just want someone else to tell us what we need to do!
So, can I let you into a little secret? There really is no ‘secret’ to rest - or at least not a ‘one size fits all’ solution anyway.
Instead, learning to live in rest is an ‘inside’ job. It starts with a change of heart, not just a change of pace or routine.
It’s impossible to properly deal with the external symptoms of our busyness and hurry and stress, unless we first deal with the heart causes of those things.
And more often than not, it all begins with stepping back and asking ourselves some questions like: ‘Why am I so busy? What am I working so hard for? And what am I believing about myself, about God, and about the world around me, as I rush through my life?’
What am I believing about his faithfulness, and his care for me as I work myself into the ground? Do I really trust him to provide for me and to cover my lack? Or am I believing that it all rests on how many hours I can work and how much money I can earn? What am I believing about myself as I stress, strive and over-stretch my capacity, trying to do everything in my own strength?
Your answers to those questions might be a bit different to mine, and that means that the solutions you need might look a bit different too.
That’s why ‘Sand Between Your Toes’ isn’t just a ‘how to guide’ or five-step plan for instantly cutting all busyness from your life. Instead, it’s a series of bible-based reflections, hope-filled prayers, and practical tips and ideas to help you develop better rhythms of rest in your own, everyday life.
Rhythms of rest
Whilst there may be no ‘secret formula’ to rest, there are some really great Biblical principles we can all apply. And I have found that looking at the life of Jesus is a great place to start, since he models these rhythms of rest so well. In Matthew 11; 28-30, he said this:
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me. Watch how I do it. Learn unforced rhythms of grace.”
Did you catch that? What an incredible invitation to imitate Jesus and to follow his unhurried example!
Throughout the gospel accounts of his busy ministry years, Jesus regularly shows us how to put this into practice. He was often in high demand, and there was always more need around him, and yet he regularly withdrew from the hustle and bustle of the crowds, from the busyness of the schedule, and the pressing tasks at hand, in order to rest.
Sometimes he spend extended time alone to pray and be with his father. But at other times, he would just withdraw to rest, to take a nap, or perhaps just to eat and spend time with his friends…
But what strikes me continually as I read about his life is that even despite the important Kingdom work he had to do, Jesus never seemed hurried or rushed, and so neither do we need to be either.
Where to begin…
So how does all of that translate into our busy, modern world today?
Well for me, it’s the principles of rest that matters more than the execution. The really important factor is not when, or even how, we choose to take rest; but simply that we do it - and that we do it regularly.
Below I have included three regular spiritual rhythms of rest that I have observed in Jesus lives, and find helpful to use as a framework. Why not have a look over them, and think about how they might work in your own context and day to day schedule? Hopefully, it’s structured enough to be meaningful, but also loose enough to fit into your own life.
It may not be perfect right away, you may need to experiment a bit first, but that’s okay - and isn’t it worth some trial and error to discover a more restful and soulful way of life?
1. Daily Moments of Pause
This is the rhythm I tend to talk about & use the most, because it’s an easy place to start for anyone who finds slowing down and resting hard. It’s all about intentionally pursuing small moments of pause every day; and the key is thinking little and often.
So whether that’s making time to pause and pray at the start and/or end of your day, or taking a walk over lunch to clear your head, or scheduling in a 10 minute tea break between different work tasks or meetings to give your mind a break, or choosing to sit in stillness and relax when it’s baby naptime rather than put on another laundry load if your a mama at home with littles… All of this counts! It’s all part of practising rest. And what’s great about pursuing small moments of stillness, silence and pause, is that it’s really manageable whatever your life stage you find yourself in.
2. Weekly Sabbath Rest
This one is probably the most familiar rhythm of rest for most christians and something that is traditionally observed on a Sunday. But for some families this can be a busy day, particularly if you have responsibilities in church - so my advice is to practice on whichever day makes most sense to you.
The important thing is that a weekly sabbath day is a clear break from doing whatever it is that you normally do - a shift from ‘doing’ into ‘being’, a lean into play over work, and a reminder to enjoy life and celebrate.
Our family sabbath does tend to be on a Saturday or Sunday; we shift it depending on what is going on, and what naturally feels like the slowest day in our week, but it always tends to centre around quality family time together doing something fun, and/or meeting with friends to eat.
3. Seasonal Holidays
The final part of the puzzle is what we might more often think of as ‘rest’ culturally speaking; and that is a holiday.
When you look at the origin of the word ‘holiday’ it comes from ‘holy day’ - a seasonal religious celebration or festival. And whilst the concept of seasonal holidays are far more secularised now, this doesn’t always need to mean a two week break on a beach in a sunny location; odd days off, long weekends, and seasonal celebrations can all count as this break from the norm and a chance to experience God differently too.
So whether it’s a public holiday, planning in a quarterly weekend break from the kids with your spouse, or a half-term trip spent visiting family friends away from all the usual home distractions, it’s worth regularly looking at the calendar months ahead and asking ‘Have we included a seasonal break anywhere in the next few months?’
Again, there’s really no exact science to this, but at least quarterly seems to work well for us as a family, and the natural breaks in the school term cycles tend to provide a convenient window of opportunity.
Further help
If you need some more ideas to help you get started, Sand Between Your Toes could be a great guide! To learn more, find where to buy it from, or to download sample pages now for FREE, simply click on the link below.
You can also visit the Resources Library on my website where there’s links to more tools & resources I recommend.
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