Sabbath as Juxtaposition of “Pursuing” Rest to Balance Stress

The fact is that pursuing rest is hard, really hard. My experience at a Messianic Jewish meeting taught me so much.

Recently, I attended a Messianic Jewish meeting in which the words Shabbat Shalom were repeated as I entered the congregation, as I found a seat, as I met someone new and on and on. I looked it up and understood that the literal meaning of Shabbat Shalom is Peaceful Saturday or Peaceful Day of Rest. According to the Torah, G-d created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day. Shabbat is the seventh day of the week, so it’s the day where we should actively pursue rest.

How do you actively pursue rest? Isn’t the pursuit of something an action? Then I dug a little deeper. What I found out surprised me. Deciding to rest is hard, really hard. To actively be in the pursuit of rest means that I have to deny my urge to look up an email, or decide to not respond to unnecessary phone texts, or choose to not drive to the market to get something I could have gotten during the week, or decide to not engage in heavy cooking.

The reality is that to actively pursue rest means I am taking the necessary steps to live a more balanced life which leads to a healthier body, mind, and spirit. In the last few weeks, I have been watching videos and doing some reading about the dangers of ongoing stress. The fact is that stress has done a number on my body. I’ve gained weight, I’ve lost the weight, I’ve suffered from constipation, I’ve suffered from multiple trips to the toilet, I’ve been unable to sleep for weeks, I’ve been feeling like I no longer want to get up from my bed, I’ve moments of constant thoughts coming to mind, and I’ve moments in which all I want is to turn off the thoughts and just rest — truly rest. Yes, that is our ongoing struggle with balancing a life of ongoing commitments and the reality of playing many roles — being a spouse, a parent, an employee, an entrepreneur, a sibling, a daughter, and the list goes on. Each of these roles require special time and attention.

What I am describing is what stress has done to me. I am sure you too have had your bouts with extreme stress. Extreme stress is prolonged, ongoing and deeply disruptive. It can remove your sense of joy or the desire to pursue new goals, and it might even make you question your purpose. Stressors come in the form of illness, loss, finances, relationships, workplace toxicity, displacement, socio-political factors, and life transitions mixed with very difficult decision-making, to name a few.

This is where Shabbat comes in the picture. Constant worry is a choice, and so is the active pursuit of rest. To remain balanced, healthy, and fully functional, one must make every effort under the sun to remain centered so we may have the ability to think critically, and implement decisions in a methodical systematic fashion. Shabbat, when implemented in our system of life, it becomes part of our lifestyle and in doing so, it creates a systemic process that becomes part of our functioning.

G-d rested on Shabbat and enjoyed His creation. Shabbat is G-d’s gift so we may find time to reconnect with Him, to reconnect with what makes us centered, to reconnect with ourselves, to reconnect with nature, to reconnect with family, to reconnect, to reconnect, to reconnect. Why? Because ongoing work has caused disconnectedness from our family and from pursuing things that are of meaning to our soul. Stress in our bodies causes a lack of recovery time, which causes ailments to the body, to the mind, and to the soul. How is ongoing work and no rest a synonym for living a meaningful joyful life? Long gone are the days where you have to prove yourself to the world by working non-stop to the point of maxing out!

Our Creator gave us permission to take the time to meditate, to reflect, to enjoy time with what we already have and to developing an attitude of gratitude. Yes! We have the choice to actively pursue rest, because if we don’t actively pursue it, we would be creating the perfect conditions to get sick. Prolonged unmanaged stress combined with underlying health conditions may lead to detrimental results. “Stress related disorders are robustly associated with multiple types of cardiovascular disease, independently of familial background, history of somatic/psychiatric diseases, and psychiatric comorbidity,” (Song et al., 2019).

The Bible advises on the perils of uncontrolled, unmanaged, and prolonged stress. “Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience,” Hebrews 4:11 NIV. Let us follow discernment by taking the time to ‘enter that rest’ time. Let us ‘obey’ our bodies when they appear to be telling us to slow down.

Let us follow the example set forth by our Creator. An example of working hard and being productive, followed by taking the necessary steps to enter into a state of rest. In doing so, we would be protecting ourselves and therefore, benefiting not just our lives and our health, but also benefiting the people who depend on us by staying alive and well. Shabbat Shalom!