Didn’t have time to do any journalling about today’s session till tonight, but it is well worth journalling about. As I looked over the list of suggested activities for engaging in “me” time, I realized that one particular thread worked its way through all of them. This was a list of activities for something we used to call “rest”. In the “old days” as some like to call them (and long before my time), people used to work hard to provide daily necessities for their homes. The men worked the fields, hauled in the wood, hunted the game, killed the cattle, and provided for the well-being of their families. Women spun, wove and sewed clothing, processed the fruit and vegies, cooked and cured the meat, did housework and also provided for the well-being of their families. But it appears from literature passed down to us from those times, that even though they had far fewer conveniences and many things took longer to do, families took time to rest. They rested in the evenings after dinner-time chores were done. Men took their sons fishing and women knitted or read books or wrote poetry. Granted these observations are very generalized, but overall, they had learned not only how to work hard, but also how to rest from their labours and recharge in whatever form suited them best.
In Scripture, we see God creating for six days and then resting on the seventh. We are later told in the books of the Law, that God did this as a pattern that we were to follow. God would tell the Jewish people that they could work six days and then they were to hallow the seventh day and keep it holy. Between the Jewish people maintaining this directive, and the early church beginning to meet on the first day of the week, culture eventually developed in Europe and by extension, North America, into a 5 day work week and a two-day weekend. Of those two days of the weekend, one was picked to catch up on tasks that couldn’t be done while working the rest of the week, and other day was picked to actually rest and spend time in God’s House. Whichever day was chosen depended on your Jewish or Christian persuasion.
While we still have “the weekend” in principal, we no longer have it in practice. The secularization of society has done away with any kind of day of rest, and the health of individuals, families and society as a whole has begun to suffer because of it. Mental breakdowns were far fewer in decades past, as were instances of people “going off the deep end” or “snapping”. Cases of physical breakdown caused by high continuous stress levels were also far fewer in number years ago inspite of the apparently higher levels of personal effort to achieve what we can do today with all our modern conveniences.
Does this mean our modern conveniences are bad? Not necessarily. In and of themselves, they generally do make life easier, but the concept that convenience would lead to more family time and more rest and recreational time has proved to be a lie. The reason for the lie is that rather than let these conveniences free up time, we have instead realized, “Hey! I have more time to get this done, do that, fit in this appt and add that to the schedule!” In this way, we have allowed modern conveniences to enslave us to the illusion of more time, rather than having those conveniences serve our need for more time.
Modern science is now validating the fact that scheduling in time for rest actually has beneficial effects on the mind and body. When we have decent moments of rest, we feel better, our mood is lifted, our minds feel less cluttered, our bodies seem to have more energy and as a result, we are generally happier and better able to handle what life throws at us. God knew this when He dictated a day of rest for His people. Our bodies are not built to handle prolonged high stress levels. This author alone has found herself in recovery mode after her own body began to give out under it all over a year ago now. I have had to not merely schedule in rest time every week, but slow down the work schedule as well. At one point I was even considering changing my career because being in tech support can be high stress at times. Figuring out how to work from home more often has also been on my mind, and I have a few ways to enable that to happen if enough marketing and promotion can take place.
The reason scheduling in time for rest and relaxation sounds like “me” time, is because it takes us out of the public picture for awhile. It removes us from the matrix for a time and therefore out of reach of others and their wants and needs. For those of us who are drawn to serving in some fashion, the idea of being removed from those who might need us is a difficult pill to swallow. But an entire industry has sprung up around this need to recharge and obtain that necessary time of refreshing. I speak of the spa/massage industry. When a friend goes for a massage, what do they say when they come back? “Oh that felt so good! It was so nice to get away for a little bit and treat myself to such luxury!” The reason it seems like a luxury is precisely because society as a whole has forgotten how to rest. Those that do make it sound very self-indulgent causing the rest of us to merely dream of such time while recoiling at the thought of engaging in such self-indulgence ourselves.
In reality, there is nothing self-indulgent about taking time to draw aside and rest. Every single person alive needs time to rest, time to refresh, time to rejuvinate both body, mind and spirit, and time to recharge to take on the world again. For the Christian, this is a big reason not to rush personal devotional quiet time. Let it take half an hour, let it take an hour, let it take however long is necessary for you and God to not only meet together, but for your spirit mind and body to be recharged, refreshed and renewed. The Christian doesn’t need to turn to expensive self-indulginces, eastern mysticism or other means to get these benefits. The Christian need only turn to the One Who longs to be their source of quieting, rest and refreshing.
Fellow author, Abby Lewis refers to this as, “Living Still” and she covers this concept extensively in her book by the same title. She goes further by offering this concept as an attitude and a mindset toward daily life as well. The concept of finding rest in Christ is what the New Testament is precisely referring to when saying that those who live in Christ enter into His rest. This thought is found in the book of Hebrews. For the Christian, life lived in Christ is meant to be more at rest than life lived without Christ. We are to hand over our cares and worries and let God handle them, being obedient to how He directs us through them and wise with the resources He gives us, which includes our time.
I admit struggling with the concept of “me” time, with the concept of slowing down to look after myself so I can be of greater service to those around me. But this need for rest and all the benefits God foreknew to be required of the human body, mind and spirit, are not to be denied or contested. Christ regularly drew aside to spend time with just Himself and God the Father. Should we not follow His example and as Christ’s invitation extends, find rest for our souls?
