How to Create a Rhythm of Rest and Connection | Episode 320

When we don’t sleep well, we feel it in our bodies. We are sluggish, fatigued, and cranky.

The same is true when we don’t make time to rest our hearts and minds. Before long, our souls will start to feel burnt out and weary.

This topic was inspired by a listener-submitted question that asks:
How have you practically made sure you have times of rest? Between juggling jobs, kids, and ministry, our schedules are full to the brim. We deeply love people, but know it’s important that we also get time to recharge. Do you have any tips for keeping a Sabbath? How have you practically created rhythms of rest in the midst of the busyness of life?

Mark and I are taking some time to answer this question and share some mindfulness strategies that have worked for us. We hope this conversation is helpful as you try to develop your own practice of rest.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

What counts as rest for your soul
Why we think it’s important to intentionally have blank spaces in your calendar
The freedom we have in practicing Sabbath in the various seasons of life
And more!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Our Key Takeaways:

1) Sabbath is the practice of stepping away from the everyday. Our lives can get pretty busy. There are so many demands on our time and attention. We have a tendency to rush from one thing to the other, and we can forget that our souls long to sit still. We desperately need times of rest in order to recharge and serve others well. Jesus practiced rhythms of rest by regularly setting aside time to retreat and find solitude from the crowds. If God recognizes and plans for rest, we should try to follow his example.

2) There is freedom in how we rest. Many of us have unrealistic or rigid ideas of how to practice rest. In reality, there is no one-size-fits-all solution! A rhythm of rest will look different for every family and even every person within that family. For Mark, mowing the lawn is a cathartic activity that renews his mind. For me, there is nothing better than the stillness of my garden. Not only does our rest look different from one another, but it also looks different in each season of life. While we had young children, Mark would take our kids to a nearby golf course where they were allowed to run around while he teed off.

3) Protect the time you set aside to rest. Even when Mark was in ministry, we had one day set aside for us to rest. Now, as coaches, we still try to do the same. With that said, we understand that emergencies happen and you can’t always have a full day just to rest. But as much as you can, try to protect the time you set aside, even if that is just an hour. If you are finding that the time you picked gets interrupted week after week after week, then it’s time to reassess and see if you need to make a different plan. It could be that time isn’t the best, or maybe you have too many commitments and need to give some of those up. If you have little children, you may need to split the time with your spouse or trade babysitting with another family in your neighborhood in order to protect that time.

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