Why We Need Sabbath Rest

As Christians, we are familiar with the sabbath. We know that God commands us to rest on the seventh day. He takes this so seriously, in fact, that it is the third commandment behind adoring Him alone and revering His name. But we often forget that, as humans, we need sabbath rest.

Why We Need Sabbath Rest

After a couple tough years of loss and transition, we found ourselves begging Him for healing, direction, and renewal.

Then, one morning during my prayer time, I read this proclamation from Isaiah:

The Lord will guide you continually,
and satisfy your needs in parched places,
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters never fail.
Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to live in.

If you refrain from trampling the sabbath,
from pursuing your own interests on my holy day;
if you call the sabbath a delight
and the holy day of the Lord honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,
serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs;
then you shall take delight in the Lord,
and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth...

The first section describes the cry of my heart. Satisfied needs, strong bones, watered garden, ruins rebuilt, raising up foundations for future generations.

The second section rolls in with a big IF...

IF you stop neglecting the sabbath, pursuing your own interests, going your own ways, pursuing your own affairs...

I realized the continual restoration I'm longing for is predicated upon my honoring of the sabbath.

Restoration comes through rest. 

The sustenance and energy I need to fulfill the duties of my vocation are freely given to me by the Lord, and one of the primary ways He makes this possible is through my willingness to rest.

Incredibly simple. Incredibly difficult to live.

And this isn't just an "us" problem. The reason the prophets banged the drum of honoring the sabbath so much is because the people were prone not to, even then.

The Obstacle to Rest

Work was gifted and commanded before the Fall. It is a part of our human dignity. And it is the place of constant attack by the enemy post-Fall. We get all twisted in up in our understanding of work. Labor easily becomes improperly ordered. It is a human condition.

Our invitation, then, is to listen to the voice of the Lord and respond in obedience and faith.

Rest is something that should be a part of our daily living, so we will largely focus here on sabbath rest. I think we can take the big-picture of sabbath rest and insert micro-sabbaths into our everyday lives.

But we simply won't rest until we understand it in light of our walk with God.

So first, try to open your mind and heart to this idea of rest. 

I know rest feels impossible.

I'm not writing this as an expert but as one "in the trenches" with you. I, too, am working this out in my life as a mother. I'm trying and failing and trying again. Let us, then, relax our shoulders, take a deep breath, and be open to considering how rest might actually be possible in our actual lives.

Let's look at some steps to take if we are wanting to embrace sabbath rest more fully and faithfully.

1. Understand what rest means

If your eyes glaze over when you think about rest, don't sweat. Many of us have forgotten what that even is.

We can conjure up ideas about rest on a grand scale. Our first step is to discover the smallness of rest. After all, rest is about acknowledging our smallness.

The first and most important piece of the sabbath is worship of God through attending Holy Mass. This is it. This is the thing. Jesus alone is our rest and comfort and we simply will not find it apart from receiving Him in the Holy Eucharist each week.

I'm guessing you already do that. See?! We're already well on our way.

The second piece of sabbath worship is prayer and works of mercy. The sabbath is a day for extra prayer and living in charity.

The third piece is "a day of grace and rest from work."

"Just as God "rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done," human life has a rhythm of work and rest. The institution of the Lord's Day helps everyone enjoy adequate rest and leisure to cultivate their familial, cultural, social, and religious lives.

On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are to refrain from engaging in work or activities that hinder the worship owed to God, the joy proper to the Lord's Day, the performance of the works of mercy, and the appropriate relaxation of mind and body." (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2184-2185)

Rest is a "laying down" of our typical tools and a "picking up" of prayer and leisure.

It sounds great in theory, right? But there is so much that needs to be done...

2. Uproot self-reliance

Which brings us to the necessary action when it comes to resting: taking the weight off our shoulders.

Especially as mothers, we can slip into the mindset that it's all up to us.

If we don't do ______, then it won't get done. Then all the plates will fall and everything will be a disaster and our husbands will be unhappy and our children will grow up damaged and everything will be terrible always... Thus we spiral.

Taking a sabbath rest takes a direct hit at thinking we are the end-all-be-all of our family life.

We are not. He is.

And the more smallness we embrace in this regard the freer we will become.

Particularly as Americans, we have great grit. We are willing to work hard. Sacrifice for the greater good. But we can easily sacrifice the memory that we are not independent of God. Sabbath rest reminds us that grit is useless apart from grace.

3. Let go of perfection/expectation

For those of us who tend to be all-or-nothing, this is a big one.

Remember, Jesus said that the sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. So we don't have to crack whips of rest or yell at our family when we aren't resting "right" on the sabbath.

As moms, we will still be needed on the sabbath. There will still be diapers and teen angst. We still have to feed the people. This doesn't nullify the sabbath for us.

So, let's go ahead and accept that there will be bumps along the way. They are not hindrances but instead remind us of our mission.

We also may need to relax our usual expectations when it comes to our duties. We can shift our typical housekeeping or simplify meals. We can exchange schoolwork for fun read alouds or family games. I think we will find that the entire family enjoys this relaxation of "business as usual." And nothing will fall apart as much as we imagine!

4. Adopt a long-term view

We are so conditioned to respond to needs in the moment.

In the same 15 seconds, the baby blows out, the oldest starts throwing up, and the mid-kid is hollering for help with math. This is typical in the life of the mother.

In these moments, we are not thinking about the future. We are responding to the present requirement. This holds great fruit for us! After all, holiness is in the present moment.

At the same time, we must remember that we are primarily seed-sowers. We are long-term planters. Viewing rest as a long-term strategy for our motherhood can help quiet the objections to rest that rise in our minds.

Rest helps prevent burnout.

Rest helps prevent bitterness and resentment.

Rather than getting in the way of our productivity and family vision, rest propels and safeguards.

5. Ask the Lord

Once our minds and hearts become convicted of rest, the natural follow-up question is... how?

How do we, personally, find rest?

This will vary for each of us because we are all different! We enjoy different things and are restored in different ways. Some will long for books, others TV shows. Some will be in the nail salon, others in the garden. Some will take long walks, others long naps.

Try not to judge yourself on what you find restful.

But how do we even remember or discover what is restful to us? For some of us, we have been in the motherhood game so long we don't even know what we find fun anymore. We struggle to let our minds and bodies exhale

A good place to start is by asking the Lord. He knows us better than we know ourselves. We may have forgotten how we best rest. But He has not forgotten us. Let us, then, allow Him to direct our fun and leisure! Let us allow Him to show us how to increase our prayer!

6. Make it a non-negotiable

It is helpful to put sabbath rest on the calendar. Allow it to be immovable, like a practice or appointment.

This is just what we do.

In doing this, we shift our mindset on the sabbath from a treat we must earn or can live without to obedience to the Lord and our vocation.

What if we didn't make excuses? What if we insisted on this rest? What might change in our heart and life? Consider it for a moment. Would it be worth it to elevate rest to a non-negotiable?

7. Plan ahead

Practically speaking, planning ahead for the sabbath is a massive help for the mother.

Things like grocery shopping, meal prepping, and cleaning the house in the previous days frees up the sabbath for a fuller rest.

I'm trying to plan our coming personal, work, and school week on Friday so that doesn't hang over my head on Sunday.

Some simple prep work can make the day of rest seem more doable for us!

8. Be a baby giraffe

I love watching baby giraffes learn to walk after they're first born. Their lanky legs must adjust. They stumble and fall. They look awkward.

This is how rest might feel at first.

We may not know what to do. It might feel like we are being lazy or unproductive. We may walk around the house trying to find a place to sit (what is sitting?) or something to do (surely there is a fire to put out!).

Push through the awkward stage and be a baby giraffe. Give yourself time to find a rhythm of rest. And we must do this again and again as seasons and family change!

Sabbath Rest Proclaims Trust in God

Finally, our sabbath rest comes by way of trust.

Rest on Sundays is nuanced, of course. Some of us must work or travel. The Church allows for this exception with the encouragement to allocate a day of rest in another part of the week if possible. Rest can be flexible, but it cannot be omitted.

We must trust that God knows what is best for us. We must trust that He will provide. We must trust that He cares for us and our family far more than we do.

We must trust that what He says is true.

We all long for rest. We all want to be restored. As moms, it may seem an impossibility; perhaps that indicates that we are in greater need of it.

Rest can feel elusive and privileged, unproductive and irresponsible.

The Lord would state otherwise.

At the end of it all, I would rather rely on His Word than on my own plans and predictions.

I'd rather be more His than the world's. More His than my own.

This will take me a lifetime to work out. There is no trite solution. As moms, we do not have hours upon hours of uninterrupted free time. The culture's suggestion of rest and fun do not fit within the realities of our life. But that does not disqualify us from the call, the need, and the promise.

Rest is Possible 

Let us keep trying to respond to this commandment and invitation in faith, hope, and love. God will take our smallest efforts and renew us beyond comprehension.

If we are working hard every day, shaping little hearts to give Him glory, we need to let our souls be restored. Let us rest in his Word, and placing the Holy Mass in the center of our Sundays. 

In the Eucharist, Jesus renews our spirits, and he will give us the grace we need to accept rest like the immense gift it is.

To unveil the Miracle of the Mass to your loved ones and embrace Jesus like never before on this Holy Sacrament, we have a unit study just for you. It can be used during your homeschool morning time, or in your family prayer time.

Is it easy for you to embrace rest? How do you recreate yourself on this particular season of your life?

Ready to dive deeper? 

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