Learning To Rest

Something is wrong. We seem to be sitting in the middle of an epidemic of stress, tiredness and burnout. Post-pandemic, our ability to cope has not recovered and many of us are struggling. Research published earlier this year showed 79% of UK employees experience burnout, 42% of people are feeling more exhausted than ever before and a third of all staff sickness in NHS Wales is due to stress, depression or anxiety.
Our internal resources are not keeping up with the demands of our lives, leaving us constantly dipping into an energy overdraft. Something I have noticed in many of the clients, workplaces and groups I help is that we have lost our ability to rest. Resting well helps us recoup our energy and recover; it gives our bodies (particularly our nervous and immune systems) a chance to heal and reset. It is a powerful antidote to overwhelm, stress, anxiety and exhaustion and yet, we struggle to rest. We find it hard to give ourselves permission to slow down and stop, and we struggle to know how to rest in ways that work.
This is not an ‘out there’ problem; we are seeing burn-out and overwhelm in our churches and faith organisations. Capacity is shrinking in the church; 41% of pastors in the US considered quitting last year and a study from Ireland showed the sector with the highest burnout rate was charity and not-for-profit.
Something is wrong in our relationship with our body and our ability to care for it and give it the rest it needs.
What does the Bible say about our bodies?
One root of our problem lies in a bad theology of the body. We have sometimes assumed that only the soul really matters, while the body is unimportant or even fundamentally bad; an assumption which is more Platonic and gnostic than Christian and biblical. Where might we begin if we want to recover a healthy biblical view of the body?
Genesis
Here we find that humans are not created as pure spiritual beings, but as embodied creatures, made from the dust of the earth, with a sexual nature and a need for food. This whole embodied creature is declared to be ‘very good’.
The story of Israel
God could have chosen to reveal himself in a set of timeless principles but instead chose to reveal himself through the (often messy) history of a particular people in a particular place. Life with God happens in the midst of embodied human existence.
Jesus
At the centre of the story, God came near and entered into our embodied human experience: ‘The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us’ (John 1:14). Jesus has not come to rescue us from our humanness but to rescue us from sin and all its consequences, and so to heal, restore and redeem our human nature from the inside.
Revelation
The Christian hope is not (as in Platonism) a disembodied soul flying off to live forever in a purely spiritual heaven. Instead, it is unapologetically earthy and embodied: the resurrection of the body, and a new heavens and a new earth, where redeemed (embodied) creatures will live in a redeemed and renewed creation.
In living as Christians, our bodies are not a yucky embarrassment, an irrelevance, an enemy, or simply a vehicle for carrying around our souls.
The only place we have to live a life with God is in the middle of ordinary, embodied human life:
The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me (Gal. 2:20).
We will not be able to flourish as human beings unless we learn to pay attention to our bodies, and care for our bodies. This includes learning how to rest.
How do we practice rest?
Most of us know that rest is important. We know that in the story of creation, God himself ‘rested from all his work’ and called this day of rest both ‘holy’ and ‘blessed’ (Gen. 2:2-3). We know that we are even commanded to rest (Ex. 20:8-11). Yet many of us find it difficult, in practice, to know how to rest well. Here are some practical ideas, rooted in both ancient wisdom and modern research.
Set aside time for rest
An intention is not the same as a plan. A regular time each week often works best. If possible this should be a whole morning, afternoon or evening. Block off at least two hours of time and ideally by yourself. If a big chunk of time seems too much for a first step, start with a daily small chunk. For example, twenty minutes after dinner that’s just for you to walk, read or sit in nature. Given how important rest is for your mind and body, you might think of it like a daily or weekly prescription you give yourself.
Find some boundaries
Is it clear where your work day begins and ends? Or can it leak through checking emails, answering calls or thinking about work?
Rest in active ways
Try some activities that are restorative while engaging the mind and body: maybe walking, exercise, puzzles, crafts or art.
Rest in passive ways
Some activities are effortless, allowing the body and mind to power down. You could try reading, having a bath, listening to music, daydreaming or being in nature.
Ditch your phone
Research is discovering that our phones are having an extraordinary impact on our mood, stress and relationships. Have a regular time in your day when you switch it off, leave it behind or put it in another room.
Don’t just check out
TV, online shopping and social media scrolling are not truly restful; they are checking out. A little is OK, but more than that is not doing anything to refill the cup.
Rest, ultimately, is a surrender to our finite capacity as creatures; to how our bodies are created; and to the Father who loves us and holds the world in his hands. It’s not our job to save the world or hold all things together. In his presence we can calm and quiet ourselves, like a child with its mother, and put our hope in the Lord, both now and forever (Ps. 131).