Rhythms of Rest
April 7, 2024 | 10:05 am
When I was growing up, we had a mango tree in our backyard that produced some of the sweetest mangoes I know to date. It however had an interesting rhythm of producing every other year. It skipped a year and then had a bumper harvest the following year. We knew that it had a year of rest.
Any farmer will tell you that the ground must lie fallow for a while before every planting season. There is no bumper harvest without the period of rest. Our mango tree had a real sense of rest. During its year of rest, I noted that it grew some more shoots which turned into branches and had many leaves. These new branches would host the new sweet mangoes.
I later understood that, the numerous leaves created food for the tree to grow new roots and shoots in preparation for the bumper harvest the following year. Although during rest, it looks like nothing much is happening, yet great strength and momentum is received. I don’t know about you but I believe there is some real truth that we can learn from our mango tree.
Firstly, rest is God’s way and will for His creation. God created for 6 days but on the 7th day He rested. He created us with rhythms of rest and grace in mind as demonstrated in Exodus 20:8-10. According to God, lack of rest is as bad as murder, adultery, stealing, lying or covetousness. God knew that there would real pressures and responsibilities in life but He gave us the approach to breathe life into our weary souls through rest.
While on earth Christ began His day by retreating into lonely places to pray. While this is not cast as a rule, we see Christ following a rhythm in His life. He started His day by telling the Father about His day and the people He would encounter. He was God-centered.
Luke 6:5 reminds us that Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath. Our rest is anchored on Him. That’s why Jesus told us to come to Him in Matthew 11:28-30, so that He can teach us the rhythms of rest and grace. Our rest must be Christ-centered
During the day, Jesus spoke to His father often. We see Him praying and releasing healing to those He met. He saturated His day with prayer. We too must punctuate our hours and minutes with prayer. One thing we must realize is that the world may have its hands on our hours and minutes, but it must not have our souls. Our souls belong to God. Our rest should lead us back to God who is the source of all that we are.
At work, before you write that email, pray. Before you collide with that workmate, pray. Before you encounter that difficult customer pray. At home, before you express your anger, pray. In this way, you will gain a sense of God’s wholeness as Jesus displaces the stress and worry.
Philippians 4: 6-7 (MSG) Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
Resting by abiding in His presence is the only way of being successful in what we are doing. We have an opportunity to start our day with God and then continue to speak to Him throughout the day in silent prayer, loud prayer, shouts of praise etc. Did you consider that health break at work as an opportunity to speak to God? The tea break is not time for slander but a time to inhale the presence of God. That drive to work or time in the bus, is time to catch up with the Lord. As we keep our minds on Him, we receive rest (Isaiah 26:3).
As we rest, let’s be true to who we are. Are you an extrovert? You will feel rested when you spend time interacting with people because you are what we would call ‘solar-powered.’ You recharge through external interactions. If you are introverted, your rest comes from solitude because you are ‘battery-powered’. Whatever we are, we must create time to reconnect our souls to God – our source.
Secondly, the way of rest is a blessed life according to Psalm 34:8. There is a myth that, the busier we are, the more important we are. Now while that may sound correct, it is also a sign of an unregulated and undisciplined life. We need periods of rest so that we can be fruitful.
As a church, we believe in taking periods of rest. It is while resting that we reconnect with God and ourselves and are able to produce a bumper harvest. It is not our energy and determination that impresses God, but living in a manner that He made us that will produce the fruit He intends us to bear. This will not come by being busy, it will come by learning how to abide and grow and then bringing the harvest. Timing is key.
Thirdly, the way of rest is a choice according to Jeremiah 6:16 which reminds us to choose the ancient path of rest. We must be deliberate in taking a rest. We are to work from our rest, not rest from our work. We are human beings and not human doings.
We must remember that we cannot stay in the rest season forever. The purpose of rest is to enable us to work and produce maximally. We must arise and bear fruit for a branch that does not bear fruit will eventually be cut off (John 15:1). During the year when our mango tree had a harvest, the leaves were not as many but the new branches had a lot of mangoes. The mango tree was able to draw from its archives and stores built up during the rest season. How about you? Where are you drawing from?
As I was preparing this message, I had a chat with a friend. She explained how tired she was feeling since she started her new business. She felt disconnected with herself and even her husband. She barely had a day of rest nor enough sleep. As we talked, we ended up discussing her need to set aside, a day in a week when she would stay at home, reconnect with her husband, have time to chart the way forward on the business and pray about it.
We must be intentional about our rhythm of rest. We must set time to inhale the presence of God and exhale rest. For her, she could afford to take a day in the week. How about you? What are some intentional measures that you need to take?
Anne Odoyo,
Pastor