The Half Day Sabbath Rest

What are we if we cannot down tools?

If we cannot get away we tend to become fools.

Too much life in the spotlight puts us to the test,

Sooner or later, people, we know we need our rest.

The Theory of Sabbath Rest

Introverts and extroverts, alike, need their rest. Everybody does. If we cannot down our tools – and find some time alone, away from the hustle and bustle of life – we can become shells of our real selves. This is especially true of people with busy, high-demand lives – family women and men, career people, students with jobs, etc.

The theory of Sabbath Rest is hatched in the concept of obedience; that God seeks us to work out of rest. To work out of rest is a consequence of obedience. To work out of rest is the blessing of obedience. To work out of rest is obedience.

And the key obedience is to be sensitive to the Spirit at work in our lives.

We are doing nobody any favours – least of all ourselves – if we are becoming burned out wrecks that are good for nothing.

Sabbath Rest is something we carry about with us. Knowing God is about knowing we are more than our work. We are beings, not doings.

The theory of Sabbath Rest is to live the vibrant Christian ‘abundant’ life.

All our relationships hang on our ability to access and live this Sabbath Rest. It influences our mood, our attitude, our demeanour, giving us our poise.

9 Steps to a Half Day’s Sabbath Rest

1.      Commit to investing one half day (four hours) to getting alone and being silent.

2.      Schedule a day when, all but emergencies, you’ll get out of life – pretending that the world has forgotten all about you – no ties, no responsibilities.

3.      Make a plan for what you’ll do on that day – a bush walk, a café visit, a sojourn, a train trip, etc.

4.      Allow your mind to drift far away at times, forgiving yourself for brief incursions back into your life (for these are bound to happen).

5.      Do not apologise for the need to take time out; this is a wisdom activity; a reflective task; it’s about engaging with our learning selves.

6.      Create a habit of getting away to be free for four hours for three or four consecutive weeks; then it will be ingrained enough to continue of its own accord.

7.      If four full hours is too ambitious, get two hours, but not less than that.

8.      The goal of Sabbath Rest is to get to a place where we carry it about with us; that we let God select the times to get away and we trust his provision.

9.      Sabbath Rest is not so much a right as a need. Back yourself in faith if people try to make you feel guilty for taking it.

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If we do not get our rest, life will push us to the test.

© 2014 S. J. Wickham.

NOTE: This is a free resource to help anyone prepare and engage in Sabbath Rest. Please use and share it as much as you want. Feel free to adapt it.