Feeling discouraged? Maybe you just need a nap.
In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to those he loves. (Psalm 127:2 NIV)
It’s been a while since I’ve blogged.
It’s not that I have nothing to say. I have a lot to share. I just don’t have the time.
Life has been busy. It’s not all work-related – my organization is good about having us work during work hours and staying off the grid when the day is done. It’s all the other obligations that come up during the week, not to mention the seminary class I’m taking this quarter. There are hundreds of pages of reading every week.
In class, much discussion has centered on the Sabbath and themes of rest. Why did God call us to observe the Sabbath? What does it mean to rest in God? And how can ministry leaders teach people to observe the Sabbath when Sundays are the busiest day of the week for church staff and volunteers?
Not that I’m busy serving on Sundays. I asked for a break as I take time out to recover from a sabbatical-free decade of pastoral ministry and missions.
I’m weary. And I know what my soul needs to get me back to a healthier place.
I don’t need to go on another retreat. Personally, I don’t find it refreshing to drive out to the middle of nowhere for a weekend packed with activity, getting even less sleep than usual.
I don’t need to attend another seminar or conference. Confession: I have countless notebooks and binders sitting in a box, untouched since the day I took them home from previous conferences.
I don’t need to read another book. See my note on seminary above.
What I need is solitude.
- I need time to be still, to quiet my thoughts, to re-calibrate my system with God as the center.
- I need space to read the Bible and let the words soak into my soul, not just devour a passage because I need to write something about it before a certain deadline.
- I need a quiet place to pray – I mean truly pray, sitting at the feet of Jesus, joyful to simply be with him, engaging in conversation – and not just rattling off a long list of prayer requests.
Solitude.
Not withdrawing from God, but to God.
Withdrawing from the ceaseless churning of the daily grind to find rest.
As part of one seminary assignment, I took naps on three consecutive days. It was striking, almost sobering, to see how much better I felt after getting more sleep.
Feelings of anxiety and weariness that I could have read as spiritual malaise had largely dissipated after a long nap. This caused me to wonder how many times I might have mistaken fatigue for a spiritual attack – or if fatigue itself had opened the doors to spiritual attacks and discouragement.
Do naps count as a spiritual discipline?
I believe they could, if taking one demonstrates trust in God.
My lack of sleep reflects an idolatry of self and my ability to earn a paycheck as a source of security. I refrain from rest when there is too much to do and I worry about how it could affect my job, and ultimately, my family’s future. In this context, stopping to rest would be a confession of dependence on God, as more sleep means less time to get things done on my own.
Physical and mental exhaustion lead to spiritual exhaustion and burnout – which, in turn, can impair one’s judgment. When I first became a pastor, I was taught during one orientation class that no pastor ever sets out to fall: what often happens is that the pastor gradually burns out and starts making poor decisions.
Fatigue lowers one’s defenses.
This is why self-care is so important. It’s not selfish, as we’re often conditioned to believe. Even Jesus knew to withdraw to lonely places and pray (Luke 5:16). He slept through a furious storm while his disciples panicked (Matt. 8: 24-25).
No surprise, considering Who prescribed the Sabbath in the first place.
How do you feel about rest? Sin of sloth or spiritual discipline?
Is rest part of your natural rhythm?
Do you feel selfish or lazy when you stop for a breather?
How does your church teach about taking a Sabbath?
6 Comments
I agree, sleep is very spiritual. Seriously, such helpful reflections, Stephen. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Kate. It seems that rest is often frowned upon in Christian culture – never mind sleeping or napping. I’ve seen enough cases of burnout to notice the link between striving and idolatry of self: “I need to save the world because no one else will.” I’ve been guilty of this and had to learn to be still before God, trusting in Him, letting the Lord be the Lord.
Rest and sleep/nap, are they so the same that the terms can be used interchangeably? Not trying to nitpick here, but your writing prompted me to think, coz I’ve not really thought hard about that.
Hi Nari, I didn’t intend for them to be interchangeable. I was using sleep as an example of an extreme form of rest, and asserting that rest is so important that even a nap is acceptable if that’s what one needs to rest spiritually. I should have elaborated on this in the post. Thanks for asking this clarifying question!
So timely! I remember my human stress professor doing a workshop in my dorm back in college, and half the people fell asleep during the breathing exercise. Embarrassed, I started apologizing to my guest speaker, and he shared that sometimes we run ourselves down so much that our bodies don’t know how to rest, and default to the only thing it knows…sleep.
Thanks for the reminder! Better this than being forced to rest through flu/colds/emergencies. Is this why God speaks to us in dreams? Like a 2 for 1 special?!?
Hmm, that’s an interesting point to consider. Maybe sleep is one time we are quiet and surrendered enough to hear from God? And yeah, I have definitely experienced my body shutting down/ falling asleep like someone hit the off switch. Thanks, Susan!