You are probably feeling quite tired right now. Maybe that tiredness has even been characterizing the majority of your days lately. I would say that probably there is a bit of a “moreness” from Christ that you’re searching for, be it peace, comfort, fullness, or all of the above.
I know that you want rest and want that deeper connection to Christ because I myself want that too! We all crave this deeply and desperately, especially as young adults in Hong Kong. We crave this so desperately because our lives are sped up to the point where we give ourselves no breaks and have become terrible at resting for a myriad of reasons. All of this ultimately results in us falling short of time with The Father.
I admit that this portion onwards of this article is all a re-write. I first wrote about the technical aspects of the necessity of physical rest. I can argue all I want about how we’re killing ourselves with our schedules and how we pack them, however I can’t change the individual circumstances that create barriers to your rest.
What I can do is encourage you to take joy in the simple practice of Sabbath. Sabbath is God’s open invitation to come to Him. What God wants most of all is us to come to Him often and expectantly. In a traditional sense Sabbath is the 7th day for rest, but the effects of practicing Sabbath lasts throughout the week. We start to live life with margins for Him in all our days. We have space to be with Him who sustains us. We have space to grieve, to process, to lament, to praise, to ask, and to listen.
… the effects of practicing Sabbath lasts throughout the week. We start to live life with margins for Him in all our days. We have space to be with Him who sustains us. We have space to grieve, to process, to lament, to praise, to ask, and to listen.
Sabbath is a beautiful way of slowing down and drawing near to Him. It’s a deliberate change of pace to recharge both physically and spiritually. Sabbath is meant to create a lifestyle against the hurry of fear, helping us slow down into a trusting nearness to our Father. My Sabbaths usually start with an intentionally slow few hours at home, followed by nothing more than an hour in the late afternoon of sitting by a park bench and waiting and listening to where God is. He meets me there each time.
Sabbath is meant to create a lifestyle against the hurry of fear, helping us slow down into a trusting nearness to our Father.
We may not always have the luxury of an entire weekend outside of work to rest. But what we can have in our daily lives is a slower pace, marked by sweet times of drawing near to God and a Sabbath space carved in each week to just be with Him. Our practice of Sabbath results in the whole week looking different, culminating in that extended period with Him at the end. When we practice this, I fully believe He meets us Himself and gives us life.
(Read Part 2 here)