A Personal Rest

I'm sitting in my hidey-hole of an office contemplating the glorious options regarding how I might spend the hours afforded to me this day. It's Friday morning, and I've been sitting in here for over two hours listening to beautiful music on my Bluetooth speaker as I study Hebrews to my heart's content. O, Bliss!

Today is one of those rare and wonderful days without obligation. There is nowhere I have to be, and really no reason to shower.

In Hebrews chapter 4 I was studying the idea of rest, and it occurred to me that this idea is so foreign to the culture in which I live. It's so foreign to my entire way of thinking. My idea of rest is largely focused on sleep, of course. Who doesn't relish the sweet oblivion of a good afternoon nap? If I want to be rejuvenated, I generally think of ways that I can apply myself to those things that I particularly enjoy. Stuff like reading and blogging, or running in the hills, coffee with the ladies, romance, shopping. That is a list that could get pretty long, but nothing of responsibility or self restraint would be found among my favored pastimes. I don't think there is anything wrong with these things, necessarily, it's just that they are not what is meant in the biblical idea of rest.

This idea of a Sabbath rest doesn't seem to have anything to do with oblivion, vacation, or self-indulgence. According to Really Smart Greek Experts, this concept means To Stop, To Cease. It made me think of commanding a hyperactive canine to "SIT!" Sit...just stop...be. How often, even as I intend to participate in Sabbath, do I just make myself still for a day?



You know, a good stillness is only to be appreciated after some activity. I think that there is a flip side strongly implied in this idea of rest, which is a robust work ethic. If I am to be able to fully embrace and appreciate an entire day of No Activity, I really need to bust-a-move for the rest of the week. (And, yes, I realize the profound contradiction in the fact that I'm resting on a day that is not actually a "Sabbath." It's the hand I'm dealt today, so I'm going with it!) Usually I am extremely motivated to work hard; I'm all about productivity. The stillness can be much more difficult.

Even as I talk about sitting in my office and reading and studying and writing, I realize that I'm still Doing Something. I think that maybe a cessation of my normal activity is supposed to remind me that even when I'm not bustling about making the world go round, it's still in motion. I'm perhaps not as crucial to the rotation of the earth as I'd like to think. Perhaps rest, real rest, should focus my mind on the One Who really is getting the business of life taken care of. If I can learn to trust His Activity a little more, perhaps I won't be so frantic about my own. Perhaps inactivity can restructure my perspective enough so that my productivity is enhanced by an assurance that it is His Work, and not mine that really matters.