Work & Vocation
I never really stop. Even on Sundays my head is at work. Do I actually need a day of rest, and what would taking one look like?
“Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.”
The command singles out ploughing and harvest, the two seasons in the farming year when stopping felt most irresponsible and most expensive. Israel was told to rest precisely then. Rest was not permission for the quiet weeks; it was a discipline for the busiest ones, and it was tied to trusting that the harvest did not rest entirely on them.
“And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:”
Jesus says this after his disciples are criticised for picking grain on the sabbath. He puts the day firmly back on the side of human beings rather than against them. Sabbath in his framing is a gift given for people's good, which turns the question from whether you are permitted to stop into whether you will accept what is offered.
A path forward
Pick a fixed twenty-four hours this week and decide in advance what you will not do in them: no email, no errands, no planning. Vague rest gets eaten.
Plan one thing inside that window that you actually enjoy and that produces nothing: a walk, a long meal, a book that is not useful.
Go to church on that day rather than treating worship as one more thing to fit in. Rest holds better when it is anchored to something outside yourself.
Closing verse
“He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.”
- Psalm 23:2
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