The Discipline of Taking a Break

Gen 2:2 On the seventh day God completed His work of creation, so He rested from all His work.

3 John 1:2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

The Creator made us body, soul and spirit. Thus in taking pains to develop our Spirit we should also not neglect the health needs of the body. One of the needs of the body is rest/leisure/or a break.

God after creation took a break on the seventh day and suggested we do same as part of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:9). But we live in an action oriented world: where always there seems to be something to do and no time to rest. After all 'time and tide waiteth for no one' and moreover 'time is money'; yet God demonstrates that rest is appropriate, and necessary.

Further on in scripture, God comes to echo this need when He comes back to admonish in Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God.” In Hebrew the term still is synonymous to cease striving or similarly to put our hands at our side.

As humans, our first impulse at any situation of danger is to flight as a survival mechanism. Hence on the surface being still will sound like against common sense as perilous as its against our natural instinct of controlling a situation and exploiting it to our advantage. But God is assuring us, “Hands off! As I address your problem, and trust that the result is in My hands.”

Although giving God total control of a situation may make us feel vulnerable; let us not forget that God is really “our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (v.1) and also “the Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge” (v.7). Hence when faced with a dire situation, we can rest be secured in God. We should therefore endeavour to believe in God's wise and timely intervention in our lives.

Similarly in the new testament after God took human form, He emphasised this need for rest when Jesus took a nap in LUKE 8:23 NLT:

23 'On the way across, Jesus lay down for a nap, and while he

was sleeping the wind began to rise. A fierce storm developed

that threatened to swamp them, and they were in real danger'.

The Sea of Galilee is till this day still a scene of fierce of storms sometimes as high as 20ft.

When caught in the storms of life, it is easy to think that God has lost control and that we are at the mercy of the winds of fate. In reality, God is sovereign. He controls the history of the world as well as our personal destiny. Just as Jesus calmed the waves, he can calm whatever storms you may face.

But many of us are so driven – feeling and behaving as if the duty of running the entire world is resting on our shoulders. But we need to understand that we came to meet the world and it will go on with or without us.

But Jesus still in the face of the storm could relax. Despite the pressing tasks awaiting Him, yet He had balance in His life. He understood when it was time to take a nap and spoil himself or relax! Jesus also invested time in prayer sometimes spending whole nights in prayer. So, His example does not mean we should be lazy or be in apathy. Just balance -- and trust in God, instead of worry.

Some may say it is a sin to "take a nap" as we should be constantly working. But Jesus never sinned, hence we can safely learn from His example, and brings balance to our lives.

In short,our times of rest refresh us for times of service.

Why the need for a break:
1. Just like the sea of Galilee you can realise that life comes like waves, once one wave is gone another is just on its way....

2. The higher we go in life our challenges also grow and we need to refuel physically and spiritually for the greater challenges ahead. Testing of our faith is essential to perfect us. Without a test there won't be a testimony.

- The teacher is silent in a test. You may feel that the Lord has forgotten you, but hang on to the promises of God for they are 'Yes' and 'Amen'!

3. The worries of today are enough for today so leave tomorrows for the next day

Matthew 6:25-34 (NIV)
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Because of the negative effects of worry, Jesus advices us not to worry about those needs that God promises to supply. There is a difference between worry and a genuine concern-worry immobilises, but concern moves you to action.

4. Life would be boring if we had accomplished everything and there is nothing else to look forward to.

In the process where we walk with God daily like an adventure, it becomes more interesting and fulfilling as we discover and grow daily. In the end we have interesting individual stories to tell.

Marci Shimoff is a celebrated transformational leader as well as New York Times best-selling author. Marci is the woman's face of arguably the largest self-help book phenomenon in history, Chicken Soup for the Soul which has been translated into over 31 languages. She delivers keynote addresses and seminars on self-esteem, self-empowerment, and peak performance to corporations, professional and non-profit organizations, and women's associations. Marci is also regarded as one of the bestselling female nonfiction authors of all time!

Marci indicates that a phase in her career she had realised all her goals. So after a book-signing day, she returned to her hotel room and sat down worn out on her bed. Normally this should be her time to rejoice and make merry after such resounding success. However surprisingly, she wept. She had achieved her aims – she had arrived! One may wonder why on earth she was sad rather than happy.

The reason is that whatever your dream in life, all our dreams share something in common — after realising one goal, another rears its head and we chase after it repeating the cycle. This is reflected in the adage, “Life's a journey, not a destination.” Hence the truth is we cannot in fact, really arrive anywhere. We will be eternally travelling, ever on the journey of life. Life happens on the journey, but not at the final destination.

When we are down and our soul is also weary, discouraged that we are no where realising our dreams, let us not forget that life is about the journey toward our dreams. In reality, should we attain all our dreams, we would be miserable rather than happy! We would not be occupied with nothing to strive toward and no opportunity to grow.

God formed us as living souls that are programmed to grow, develop, blossom, mature and change. Hence we are on a ceaseless trip, chasing our better and bested selves, and that in fact is what life is really all about.

This experience of Marci, is a phenomenon which is not new to man, we experience this feeling of despondency at varying degrees during our earthly pilgrimage. The feeling of having nothing to look forward to can even have a devastating toll on our most precious resources; our health and can be fatal at times!

In a study on health and retirement, the rates of heart attack and stroke involving over 5,422 people by the Harvard School of Public Health; it was revealed that those who had retired had over 40% chance to suffer a heart attack or stroke than those still in gainful employment. Even more interesting is that the increase was more pronounced in the first year immediately after retirement, gradually levelling off with time. The shift of having something to work towards to none comes with a boatload of changes which can be physically and emotionally taxing. In the book of Proverbs this is reflected in the prayer of Agur in Prov. 30:7-9

I said the discipline to take a break because it requires effort to take your eyes off the pressing issues after doing our possible best and accept that there are things you can do and others you have to leave to God like expressed in the serenity prayer:

God, give me grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen.
Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971)

How can we discipline our ourselves to take our eyes off our challenges and take a break:

• Godliness with contentment is great gain (1 Timothy 6:6-10King James Version (KJV):

''6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.''

There is overwhelming evidence that money or material things don't bring happiness, one day they will be gone. Love God's work and people more than money and be generous sharing what you have with others. It is said that some things are like a recipe, if you put the right ingredients in right proportions, it does not matter whether you are a believer or an unbeliever, you will achieve the right results.

This is further emphasised in the prayer of Agur (Proverbs 30: 7-9):

Agur makes the following prayer: “Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? Or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.”

Having great wealth is not the answer and being poor in effect can be hazardous to our spiritual and physical health. But then 1 Corinthians 10:13 New International Version (NIV) comes to also provide comfort ''No temptation[a] has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted,[c] he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.''

• See life as a Journey
Abraham: When he reached a landmark, first he will build an altar to God and before he builds a tent to himself. When we thank God and appreciate what He has enabled us to accomplish now, we gain new perspectives on our present condition and we can then make the most of it, because 'every cloud has a silver lining'. This is replayed many times by other believers eg Isaac, Jacob, David. We can see this in the Separation of Abraham and Lot (Genesis 13:1 – 14:24).

When we are doing what He wants us to do or going where He wants us to go, then like David we can say with King David that ' Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.' Furthermore as we look into the future we can rest in the fact that He is preparing a table before us in the presence of our enemies; anointing our heads with oil whilst our cups overflow (Psalm 23:4-5).

In sickness there can be healing, in pain there can be joy then we can see that every cloud has a silver lining.

• Give Thanks
It is said that when our praises go up, His blessings come down.

In the feeding of the multitudes; the Feeding of the 5,000 (John 6:1-14 :) and that of 4,000 (Mark 8:1-9; Matthew 15:30-38).

First Jesus uses the five barley loaves and two fish supplied by a boy to feed 5,000 people. In the second it was with seven loaves and a few small fish used by Jesus to feed a multitude. In both He gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve and seven basketsful respectively of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand and four thousand men respectively, besides women and children, before this encounter when Jesus heard that John the Baptist had been killed, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place near Bethsaida. We need to equally have a break with God to refresh for the tasks ahead.

Furthermore, godliness with contentment enables us to enjoy inner peace (Philippians 4:6-9):

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. There is a saying that you cannot stop birds from flying over your head but you can stop them from building their nest over your head. Though challenges may stare you in the face, you can restrain from fretting over them because though we may not know the future, we know He who holds the future. Peace is one precious commodity which has eluded man from time immemorial and we to great lengths to experience it...

A picture of peace

There once was a King who offered a prize to the artist who would paint the best picture of peace. Many artists tried. The King looked at all the pictures, but there were only two he really liked and he had to choose between them.

One picture was of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror, for peaceful towering mountains were all around it. Overhead was a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. All who saw this picture thought that it was a perfect picture of peace.

The other picture had mountains, too. But these were rugged and bare. Above was an angry sky from which rain fell and in which lightening played. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. This did not look peaceful at all. But when the King looked, he saw behind the waterfall a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock. In the bush a mother bird had built her nest. There, in the midst of the rush of angry water, sat the mother bird on her nest in perfect peace.

Which picture do you think won the prize? The King chose the second picture. Do you know why?

'Because' explained the King, 'peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart. That is the real meaning of peace.'

There are other things we can do when taking a break which are equally good for the soul.

Enjoy the blessings of friends and loved ones
Psalm 133:1 'Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brothers to dwell together in unity!'

Similarly, Jesus of Nazareth took time out to attend a wedding feast in the village of Cana (John 2:1-11), with his mother, Mary, and his first few disciples. This brings to mind the insightful revelations made to a palliative nurse as she conversed with patients in their last moments whilst on their deathbed. The result of this experience over several years was filtered resulting in the book The Top Five Regrets of the Dying by Bronnie Ware. One wish they frequently expressed and regretted was ' I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends'. Every Tom, Dick and Harry misses his friends on the deathbed and the memories they bring. The most significant things in life are not the material things we accumulate but these rare gems called friends, so give your friendships the time and effort they deserve.

Enjoy the funny side of life
As Proverbs tells us, "A cheerful heart is good medicine." (17:22). So let us learn to be happy and enjoy the moment, for each day comes only once in our life. Science has come to confirm this assertion of the Bible as studies have come to make known that people with a good sense of humor are less probable to experience burnout and depression and are relatively more probable to enjoy life in general. In the book Anatomy of an Illness, Norman Cousins explains that laughter helped him reverse the devastation of a grave collagen disease. He went on to confess that " ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anaesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep." He thus enjoys funny videos like Candid Camera videos referring to laughter as "inner jogging" as the entire body system is given a good workout when having a hearty laugh. Laboratory studies confirm 'Our cardiovascular and respiratory systems, for example, benefit more from twenty seconds of robust laughter than from three minutes of exercise on a rowing machine. Through laughter, muscles release tension and neurochemicals are released into the bloodstream, creating the same feelings the long-distance joggers experience as "runner's high."

So, let us cheer and lighten up with a good laugh, whilst learning to enjoy some break.

References
Our Daily Bread. Hands Off. http://odb.org/?tz=02 http://aDevotion.org/give accessed on 28.10.2014

Focus on the Family (2014): A final Thought on Humor

http://www.focusonthefamily.com/marriage/daily_living/humor_in_marriage/a_final_thought_on_humor.aspx accessed on 01.11.14

Donkor F.K (2014): Regrets Worth Avoiding
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/artikel.php?ID=298051 accessed on 08.11.14

Kenneth Copeland Ministries (2014):Four Steps to Keep Your Cool Under Pressure

http://kennethcopelandministries.org/2014/09/4-steps-to-keep-your-cool-under-pressure/#.VEkmnOcsTKZ?utm_source=MailingList+-+KCM+Newsletter+-+14.10.27+-+Halloween%2C+should+we+be+celebrating+it%3F&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=KCM+Newsletter+-+14.10.27+-+Halloween%2C+should+we+be+celebrating+it%3F

Gift of inspiration (2014): A picture of peace
http://www.agiftofinspiration.com.au/stories/personalgrowth/picture.shtml accessed on 02.11.14

Our Daily Bread
Harvard Health Publications (2011): Understanding the stress response

http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Mental_Health_Letter/2011/March/understanding-the-stress-response accessed on 04.11.14

Marci Shimoff (2014): Love for no Reason
http://www.happyfornoreason.com/about.asp accessed 01.11.14

Life Application Study Bible
Harvard Health Publications (2014): Is retirement good for health or bad for it?

http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/is-retirement-good-for-health-or-bad-for-it-201212105625 accessed on 06.10.14