Rest? But I’m a Type-A Personality!

Rest – On the Seventh Day, God Rested – Karen Lindwall-Bourg

I am a recovering Type-A Personality! 

I’m busy most of the time, feel guilty if I’m not working on a project or creating something new; and when I do sit down, I am not still!

How about you? Are you able to work when it’s time to work, play when it’s time to play, and rest when it’s time to rest?

Let’s look at various aspects of rest:

Recreation

The Bible talks a lot about playing – it refers to playing instruments in praise to the Lord.

The Bible talks a lot about joy – I found over 100 Bible verses about being joyful and all of them were related to being in the presence of the Lord. For example, in Galatians 5 we learn that part of the fruit of the Spirit is joy. In Proverbs 17 we find that a joyful heart is good medicine. In Psalm 118 we rejoice in the day that the Lord has made.

What do you do to shift gears and play?

Someone posted a question on a Facebook newsfeed asking what everyone was doing for Self-care Saturday. Interestingly, many of the comments were what most people would consider work!

I do love the calling to Biblical Counseling God has given me, and sometimes it is draining and difficult, but most of the time it is joyful and enticing! I can relate to these commenters.

In Ecclesiastes 3:1 we are told, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven…”

How often do you break for a breather?

Even within our workday, it is important to shift gears every now and then – to stretch, to stand and move to a different place, to take a walk, to grab a glass of water and keep hydrated, to shift to a different project or part of a task, to break the monotony, and to expand our creativity!

Relax, Be at Peace

“Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”  Mark 6:31

Even Christ knew that there were times to get away, to be quiet, and to rest. Scripture talks several times about how the crowds pressed in upon him and how he needed to retreat.

Sleep, Cease (Cessation), Repose

“The sleep of a labouring man [is] sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.”  Ecclesiastes 5:12

We were created to need 6 to 9 hours of sleep per night – depending on the person.

The list is long of the harmful effects of losing sleep.

We put our work and our loved ones first so often, even to the point of losing sleep. I am reminded of the instruction on an airplane to put your own oxygen mask on before trying to help anyone else with theirs. The premise is that by the time you help someone else with their oxygen mask you may not have enough oxygen to put your own mask on and would not be helpful to anyone else.

Be Well

An associate of mine, Bill, pointed out that the Hebrew word SHALOM is used as a traditional Jewish greeting or farewell and means rest, health, and/or well-being and much more.

The buzzword of this century is wellness, or well-being!

Shalom is understood around the world to mean “peace;” a complete peace. It includes a feeling of contentment, completeness, wholeness, and harmony.

According to Strong’s Concordance 7965 Shalom means completeness, wholeness, health, peace, welfare, safety soundness, tranquility, prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, harmony, the absence of agitation or discord. Shalom comes from the root verb shalom meaning to be complete, perfect and full. In modern Hebrew the obviously related word Shelem means to pay for, and Shulam means to be fully paid.

Of course, there is only one way to find TRUE shalom – and that is in the Word of God – from Him who created and put all things into place.

My biblical counseling friend, Elizabeth, once pointed out how much time it takes to care for oneself. We were talking in our group about how guilty our clients (and we ourselves) sometimes seem to feel when they/we take time out for themselves/ourselves. When you count up the number of hours of sleep and add in the other hours it takes to be clean and well fed and exercised and other things we need to do like taking vitamins and going to physicians and dentists and chiropractors, etc.… the hours really add up! Elizabeth asked, “Why would God create human beings to need so much self-care? Would he want you to feel guilty about that care? Of course not!

Learn from Him 

On The Seventh Day, God Rested“And on the seventh day God finished his work, and He rested. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.” Genesis 2:1-3

The Creator perfectly executed His will. He provided us with the model for the cycle of labor and rest (Exodus 31:17) so we are exhorted to labor and rest. In addition, we are exhorted to look forward to the eternal redemptive Sabbath rest (Hebrews 4:3-10). We are to imitate the pattern of the King and to confess God’s Lordship and our consecration to Him. How will you add self-care and rest to your busy schedule as a father, as a daughter, as an entrepreneur?

Leave us a comment and let’s see what helps we can give each other in this area!

Do you need help learning to put rest on the agenda?

Let’s do it!

Let me help you learn to work when it’s time to work, play when it’s time to play, and rest when it’s time to rest!