Rest
It’s that time of year again. The weather starts to turn cold. The flu vaccination gets advertised. The winter lurgy begins to rear its ugly head. One by one your friends and colleagues succumb to its persistent and pervading powers.
Dozens of home remedies abound. Vitamin C. Echinacea. Tea. Chicken soup. Garlic. Lots of water. Honey drinks. Lemons. Eat fresh. Steam. Keep your head warm. Keep your feet warm. Gargle. Put cut onions on the soles of your feet and on your head and beside your bed. I met a surfer who said getting dunked by a wave helped to clear his nose of a cold. Everyone has a story. My personal drugs of choice are Sudafed and Polarimine. We all have our familiar go-tos.
I asked a friend who is a GP what he recommended his patients. His answer? Rest; sleep more.
So simple, right?
Sometimes we get so caught up in the fight and the action that we forget the most powerful action may look like inaction. Up to a third of Australians have trouble sleeping. When we get run down we need to slow down, not speed up. But are we good at this? Medibank reported that the year 2017 raised the bar to stress levels and cited lack of sleep as a major cause. Even our holidays are filled with activities. People come back and say they need a holiday after their holiday. Rest is more important and more elusive than we can know.
And when we have a break, do we really unplug? According to Lonergan Research in 2017 we spend an average of 9.4 hours a day on screens. (And more if you work in an office.) Millennials are more likely to spend 3 of those hours on their phones.
What to do? Perhaps you need to schedule a nap. Turn off notifications. Pull the blinds down. And let your body win the fight in your sleep!
It’s funny how similar our spiritual and physical bodies are. I find winter is also a time that people can get spiritually run down. The spiritual lurgy is likened to a lion looking for some poor, run-down soul to slay. The Bible says we also need to rest for our spiritual health. We run around like mad things doing all the good stuff. But what God wants is for us to make time to rest in Him. Believe His promises. Then when we take up a load, we walk with him. We work with him. At His pace (not ours). Because it is His word we follow.
““Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.””
Bartlett DJ, Marshall NS, Williams A, Grunstein RR. Sleep health New South Wales: chronic sleep restriction and daytime sleepiness. Intern Med J 2008; 38: 24-31
