Rest, and the Search for God

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As a kid, I wasn’t a fan of Sundays. After Mass, my family took it easy. Usually, a big Sunday dinner with roast beef or chicken was followed by my parents’ nap.

I had little appreciation for their need for rest. I wanted activity, fun, action. The last thing I wanted was rest.

So the traditional Christian idea of “eternal rest” in the afterlife had little appeal to me. As I grew older, I had a much greater appreciation of the idea and joining the ranks of the elderly, I have an even better understanding of it. Many older people, even if happy with their lives, are less enthused about hanging around in a world that’s become foreign to them. Many look forward to “eternal rest.”

And you can certainly understand the appeal of rest in earlier centuries when the vast majority of people spent their days in endless physical toil.

Hectic Activity and Stress
But rest can appeal to even young people today. Being retired, I easily ignore the challenges and fatigue that millions of working people experience on a daily basis. Many hold down responsible, anxiety-producing jobs while raising kids. Their lives may be filled with the joys of parenthood, but also with hectic activity and stress.

Their jobs can get demanding just when one of the kids comes down with a cold. They prepare for a business trip as they’re getting the kids ready for school or taking the dog to the kennel. And just after they bundle them up for winter and are ready to go out the door, one child has to be taken to the bathroom and the other needs his diaper changed.

There’s no time to finish the coffee or watch a replay of the fourth quarter of the football game. Needless to say, there is little time for reflection, hardly any “quiet time.” And prayer? When is that supposed to happen? The experts say time for reflection brings peace and peace brings happiness but only the experts, it seems, have time for it.

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Many of us, young or old, children or not, find ourselves in a continual whirlwind of activity, and we’re never so much aware of it as at Christmastime. But yearlong, we seem to have become accustomed to it. Many of us wouldn’t know what to do with leisure time if we had it.

Being busy robs us of time for reflection, of noticing the good done by people in God’s name, of awareness of God’s presence among us. But given the demands on our time, busyness and the stress that goes with it seem inevitable. Is there really an alternative?

Some parents handle it by getting plenty of play time with the kids and by showing their kids lots of affection. Play and physical contact is great for the kids, but also undoubtedly do wonders for the parents. A second way is getting together with friends on a regular basis. Socialization, as many studies have shown, boosts our mental and physical health.

But many families seem to have no remedy when busyness gets in the way of the search for God. Obviously, you first have to be seriously searching for God before this can be an issue. And too few people feel a need for God. Busyness, and technology, I believe, have helped give us a false sense of power and control.

The idea of being “in control” is a denial of the parenthood of God, as well as of our immortality. As we should be able to see clearly from daily life, we’re not in control. We can be lulled into thinking everything is permanent, and when we’re reminded by daily events that they aren’t, our world starts collapsing. It takes only a small unflattering word flung our way to make us moody and depressed. A small failure at work puts us into a funk. We may turn to alcohol, entertainment, isolation, but not to God.  

Afraid of Change?
Are we afraid that if we let God into our lives, we must change? Yes, that would inevitably happen, but the rewards are great. Knowing who we are as children of God and living accordingly brings a degree of happiness and self-fulfillment that are so much more valuable than what we may have to give up.

People in a serious search for God need a plan. First, you have to make time in your life for reflection and prayer. Like time for brushing your teeth or working out, you have to put it on a schedule and stick to it.

You also need to make time for what you may never have thought you would do: read the Bible, starting with the “easy” books like Acts of the Apostles and the Psalms. And you may have to reduce your time watching sports or nighttime soaps to read or watch what will help in your search for God, not neglecting the obvious ways – like religion – that could help in the search. Finally, you have to “walk the walk,” treating people with kindness and compassion when you would rather ignore or insult them.

Coming closer to God puts all the busyness into perspective, especially the busyness of Christmastime. You may still need some good, old-fashioned rest, however.