Sabbath: a time of rest & delight
What is rest? At times in my life, I remember needing to get away to a foreign place with no cell service, no kids, and no responsibilities to rest. Or other times I remember just wishing for a broken bone or (slight) illness so I could lie in bed for a while. These days I have built my life differently. Rest is an integral part of my week and it’s not quite what I thought it was a decade ago.
How many of you would be delighted if I was able to wave a magic wand and you could do NOTHING for one month?
How many of you would find that incredibly irritating?
Truth is, according to Martha Beck and some personal experience, about four days of quiet is all you need. Now, you have to actually rest in those four days or it doesn’t count. So what is rest, really?
Last week, I had the pleasure of meeting virutally with about 30 students around the continental U.S. I had them share their ideas. The list went from napping to reading, to riding a bike, to sitting and watching the ocean, or standing on a mountain top. One woman even shared that cooking was her idea of rest. How is this so? Rest is whatever you make it! Rest is simply anything done mindfully with the intention of resting the heart and the mind. You might even say, rest can be anything done with present-moment awareness. We all know you can sit still for hours and the mind can still worry away leaving us anything but rested. And we all know a good night’s sleep with worrisome dreams leaves us more tired than ever. What I’ve learned and what you each shared is that sleep isn’t the only way to rest. For something to be truly restful, we simply have to have body, heart, and mind in the same place at the same time. Mind quiet and open, attending fully to the moment.
Last year, I read the book Sabbath by Richard Muller. It was an eye-opener that led me to reframe my thoughts on rest. Muller gives this definition to Sabbath, “a way of being in time where we remember what we know, and taste the gifts of spirit and eternity.” It is a time to remember everything is a blessing, to delight in your life, to celebrate the fruits of your labor and a time to stop and offer thanks for it all.
In this season of Winter, yin of yin, of deep rest; ask yourself these questions:
What are the ways you truly rest?
What might you do to make rest a priority in your life?
Enjoy the season of quiet comfort. The light is already changing. The paperwhites already peeking through. But let’s not rush ahead. For now, find the activities or still spaces that rest your mind and bring your soul home.
