This blog should hit your inbox at the precise time Darci and I hit the road for a vacation we have been planning for nearly a year. We are flying west to visit Zion National Park, the Grand Canyon, and finally, Sedona. We are very grateful and excited for this time away...time to hike and explore, time to relax and eat some good food, time to enjoy God’s creation and each other’s company! For us, vacations are part of a rhythm, a sabbath rhythm, that we believe God has prescribed and provided for our lives.
“And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” – Genesis 2:2-3
God worked hard and he rested well. He didn’t need to rest but he did. He didn’t need to work but he did. He established a rhythm. God provided for sabbaths every seven days, every seven years and even every seven cycles of seven years, in the year of Jubilee.
Jesus put this rhythm into practice in the face of the busyness of lofty expectations and pressing demands. He understood how quickly our passions, even the most noble, can wear us out if we’re not careful.
Early in his ministry with the disciples, Jesus began to teach them about the importance of establishing sane rhythms of work and rest. In Mark 6, Jesus had just commissioned the disciples for ministry and had given them the authority to cast out demons, to preach the Gospel and to heal the sick. They went off on their first ministry excursion and returned all excited about their new-found powers and crowded around Jesus to report in on all they had done and taught.
But Jesus didn’t have much time for their ministry reports. Immediately, he instructed them “to come away with me and rest awhile.” He seemed to be much more concerned about helping them to establish rhythms that would sustain them in ministry rather than allowing them to be overly enamored by ministry successes or inordinately driven by their compulsions to do more.
While there are plenty of people on the other side of this…who have never tested their limits, who haven’t tasted the power of God at work in them and through them.
I have spent much of my life bumping up against limits, ignoring limits, and pretending there are no limits. It was a significant contributing factor to a devastating crash I experienced in my life and ministry nearly 19 years ago.
As a person and as a pastor, I’ll confess that I never completely get away from the challenges, struggles, problems and needs of life and ministry. In my world, it even has a name: residual, pastoral fatigue. It’s the cumulative, ongoing, unceasing weight of concern for the people of the church. But it’s not just pastors! I know many of you have felt or do feel overwhelmed, worn out, over-worked, bone-tired!
But if I in desperate need of a vacation or a nap, or I’m running on empty going into my day off or a week off, that’s a warning sign for me. A day or a week off won’t make up for a life that isn’t regularly being filled up. Sleep is not enough. A vacation is not enough. We need to take care of ourselves by entering the sabbath rhythm that God commends and commands.
Caring for myself is biblical. It’s needed. It helps me care better for others, to be more effective and productive in the things that I am called to do, and it allows me to be more fully in God’s presence!
I don’t think it’s healthy to put myself in a place where I “need” a vacation or I need to sleep all day.
Research shows that what we need is seven (seven!) types of rest to truly thrive: physical, mental, sensory, emotional, social, creative and spiritual. I won’t go into detail here, but “active” rest is important. I know we know this!
My time off is better when I arrive with some reserve left in my emotional, spiritual, and relational tanks. When I’m taking care of my mind, body, and soul, I find I’m in a better place to truly savor the riches that God has for me to enjoy. When I have a healthy rhythm to my days and my weeks, then the occasional getaways are just more fun. When I make room for God in my life on a regular basis, I’m a better travel companion to myself and others. This is why it’s important to maintain a sabbath rhythm!
That looks a little different for each of us. We rest differently because we are wired differently. For some, mowing your lawn may restore your soul. For others, it’s curling up with a good book. We’re all wired differently. And different seasons mean different challenges and opportunities to finding and maintaining healthy rhythms.
But here’s the good news! If you’re pulling out as you read this, and one or more of your gauges is already flashing a warning sign that empty is just around the next bend, it’s not too late to fill up. It never is! Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Call upon His name, and He will answer. Cast your cares upon Him, knowing He cares for you.
Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-29, “Get away to the beach or head to the mountains, and I will give you rest!” Of course not! He said “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”