Toward the Eternal Sabbath: Rest for Meaningful Work
“[Jesus] said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.’” (Mark 6:31).
Why We Rest
At the end of April, my family and I contracted COVID-19. School had just resumed after two years of learning from home, and one week later, my son brought home the virus. Just when we thought we had returned to some semblance of a pre-COVID life, we all had to shut in, isolate, recuperate, and rest. The “resting” part from work did not come naturally for me. Rather, it felt forced and almost with an attached sense of guilt that made me press pause, reflect, and reevaluate the importance of rest.
Rest from work is necessary, but it can make us feel uncomfortable. While this discomfort can stem from good motives, such as ensuring seamless continuity in lean work environments, it sometimes means that our downtime makes us feel guilty and unworthy. This tension is, perhaps, why holidays like Labor Day exist.
Indeed, God himself has seen fit to remind us of the importance of rest. In his boundless generosity, he gives us a labor day every week: “Six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God. You shall not do any work” (Deuteronomy 5:13-14). Resting gives us time to recall and celebrate God’s marvelous deeds that have set us free, and the Lord’s gift of the sabbath reminds us that our work cannot fulfill us.
In this life, we must work, and we can praise God through our work. But God, in his mercy, allows us to participate now in the life of heaven by praising him even as we rest. When we apply this story of creation to our own soul, we can understand the six days of creation as the accumulation of virtue and the seventh day of rest as the blessed experience of renewal and restoration.
“Come to Me”
Many people tend toward restlessness—a feeling that they are not quite satisfied, even when all their material needs have been met. They may try to find what they are searching for through consumption. Others try to find rest in experiences and adventures, while others try to find rest in raising their children. We can, of course, find rest in these things, but none of them will bring true rest.
Made in the image of God, human beings find our rest in the same sabbath that God did. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus helps us understand the rest we seek, saying, “Come to me, all you labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light” (11:28-30).
Too often, we do not heed Jesus’ command to rest, but the likelihood of emotional breakdowns, burnout, and illness increases when we do not have adequate rest. Joel Hoomans of Roberts Wesleyan College offers some helpful suggestions:
Define your availability: Protect your time off from interruptions and distractions. Establish the times when you are available, and publicize them so that the people who depend on you know what to expect.
Delegate: Engage team members with opportunities to learn and take on new responsibilities. It’s a win-win situation, since they will be able to develop their skills and talents, and you will be able to take some time to rest.
Attend to your spiritual life: Finally, and most importantly, we must not only care for our body and mind but to our soul as well.
Work is important, but so, too, is rest. All of us who labor must learn the art of rest to be effective in the long term. The goodness of God is present in all things, and it beckons us to rest in him as we journey toward the eternal sabbath. Everything has a state ordained by God in which it finds rest. The water in a stream seeks rest by flowing to the ocean. Seeds blow in the wind, searching for a place to call home, before they find their rest in the soil. Animals, once they have food and shelter, are content to rest where they are, without seeking anything more. Similarly, the human being is restless until it finds its natural state—and that natural state is resting in God’s presence.
Shivonne Sant-Solomon is a wife and mother of two, blessed with the responsibility of raising them in this dynamic world! In all of her work, and in her most important roles as mother and wife, her relationship with God has been and continues to be central, as she is first and foremost a child of God. Over the past 19 years, Shivonne has had the opportunity to work in a variety of commercial roles within the energy industry, as well as assuming the role of a stay-at-home mother to her then-younger kids for three years—a transformational experience indeed, and one where the challenges and due respect are saluted and applauded. As Shivonne continues along her spiritual and professional growth and development paths, she seeks out opportunities to share her faith and contribute and support the achievement of the world’s energy transition goals in caring for God’s creation.