#06 The Importance of Rest
Throughout the centuries, many armies at war with each other, when special holidays approached or the men just grew tired of battle on both sides, would stop the fighting. They would declare a cease fire or a truce. That is where terms like those came from.
Indeed in the Old Testament of the Bible even God who while creating the universe took the seventh day to rest. The almighty creator of the universe. He rested. Now according to theology, he did not rest because he needed to, he rested to model how important rest is. That is why globally, we have such a thing called a weekend.
In more modern times, sport scientists have made breakthroughs in understanding how muscle regenerates after rigorous exercise. What they discovered may seem counterintuitive but the evidence is undeniable. The muscles of athletes rebuild themselves the most on the days they rest. Amazing.
Now lastly, for the scholars, it is a well proven fact that you need time for your brain to assimilate information you are studying. That is why it is important for students to get an early start and not leave things for last minute the way I did in my youth. When you go to bed, and rest for the night the information assimilates and in the morning you will have stronger neural pathways and be able to better recall your work. That is why rest is so important for students.
If brave warriors, athletes, students and learned scholars, if the God of the universe, creator of all things, rested, what makes you and I exempt?
Nothing.
Rest is important for our mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing. There is something divine about rest. Something transformative. I need this reminder more than most.
I run a large division for an IT consulting firm, I serve on my church council, and run various ministries in the church. I have a blog, a podcast, a debut book The Coward, and I am planning on launching a vlog on YouTube and writing a second novel this year. I am also negotiating with sone investors for a startup that will benefit the writing community.
It?s easy to get overwhelmed with all that activity. I didn?t even mention family, friends and significant others. How is one to balance it all? You start with rest. Which will give you the strength and stamina to go on even on days when it feels like you can?t, like the day I wrote this exact blog post desperately needing a break in a particularly busy time in my life.
Find rest, and you will find peace. Find peace and you will find strength. Find strength and there is no telling what you might accomplished, but it all starts with finding rest.
Happy reading, Kryptic Fans!
