SoulFull Rest.

As the New Year has set in, many of us have set new goals, embarked or will soon be embarking on new adventures. For some, things may have slowed down at the end of 2025 but are now picking up with a greater velocity than before. I want to challenge us to renew our thinking surrounding rest. For me rest has gotten a new name. I now call it sabbath.

Teddy bear resting

Previously rest only came when I was at my wit’s end and had no other option. Rest came with a warped thought process that I somehow had to “earn” it first. If I did this thing or that thing, then I could rest. Recently, during one of my morning quiet times with God, I came across scripture from Mark 2:27 which reads “And He said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath”. Initially, I was still slowly waking up when I read that. However, upon a further inspection of this scripture, it allowed me to understand that sabbath is meant to serve men and women of God.

We are not meant to turn sabbath into an optional or trivial day.

Sabbath is provided to us as a gift from God with purpose. It is meant for us to disconnect from work, tasks, and responsibilities of life and use it as a day to connect to our Creator-God, recharge our souls, connect with our community, gain balance, and prioritize physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. God, the creator of everything in our universe modeled this very concept for us in Genesis 2:2. We know God did not need to rest, but He did so to remind us that resting is good and part of His plan. It is also necessary to help us be good stewards over the gifts God has given us such as our careers, families, or vocations. I hope this message encourages you to make sabbath a healthy habit and not a mere luxury or prize for hard work. No matter if you choose to make Sunday your sabbath or any other day of the week, remember it was created for you and there is nothing that you will ever have to do to earn it!