CoffeePods
A series exploring Christian healing in a handy coffee-break sized podcast. Plug yourself in, pick up your mug of coffee, and let's go.
CoffeePods
Summer Holidays and Healing Rest
Feeling constantly drained by the demands of modern living? You're not alone. In this restorative conversation, we unpack the revolutionary idea that rest isn't merely a luxury—it's an essential spiritual practice with profound healing implications.
"Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you." Anne Lamott's words capture the heart of our discussion as we explore how our resistance to genuine rest has created a culture of exhaustion. While 96% of Britons consider holidays essential, many return from breaks more tired than when they left—highlighting the crucial difference between vacations and true, soul-deep rest.
We wrestle with why rest provokes such guilt in our achievement-oriented society. From educational systems that reward constant productivity to workplace cultures that celebrate burnout, we've internalized damaging messages about the value of stillness. Yet Jesus himself modelled the importance of retreat, regularly withdrawing to quiet places. If the Son of God needed rest, why do we consider ourselves exempt?
Through practical approaches like digital detoxes, prayer walks, and creating "Sabbath moments" in everyday life, we rediscover how intentional rest allows us to hear God's whispers rather than just the world's noise. The word "holiday" itself comes from "holy day"—time set apart for renewal. As summer unfolds, we invite you to reclaim rest not as indulgence but as essential spiritual practice that allows for genuine healing and restoration.
Listen now to transform your understanding of rest and discover how unplugging might be the most powerful healing tool available to you today.
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Coffee Pods, a podcast of the Acorn Christian Healing Foundation exploring what's happening in the world through the lens of Christian healing.
Speaker 2:Chris, we are here again.
Speaker 1:Yes, I hear people saying pretty much every day how tired they are and how they just need some summer rest.
Speaker 2:Oh, yes, definitely, Especially thinking like teachers in particular. I know school, we live opposite school and the school went out last Friday, I think, and you know what. It is just so quiet without it in action and it just makes me think of all the teachers, the children that are hopefully getting some rest as well. But we're focusing on healing.
Speaker 1:Rest aren't we today in our discussion. Yes, I think I think the idea of a holiday and a rest and a retreat is a I think is a good subject for us to have a crack at talking about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, especially because I know that a fair few of the people who are listening to this podcast they are in environments that are ministry and they're you know they're serving other people quite a lot and to make sure that we take that time to be renewed and restored is really important. Can we start with a really good quote by ann lamott. She says almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you excellent that's, and that's billy graham's uh daughter is it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and in America they would say Lamont.
Speaker 2:Oh, not Lamont yeah.
Speaker 1:But she, I believe she still lives in Montreat and I think they run quite a busy ministry up there in the mountains. Franklin is the other part of the family who does Samaritan's Purse and everything. But I think Ann still runs the retreat center there, and it's so true.
Speaker 1:If we unplug, you know, when my dad used to struggle with the computer and stuff, you know the first thing I would say is have you unplugged it? Well, why would I do that? Well, unplug it, wait 10 seconds, plug it back in and then turn it back on. And he would say well, how's that going to help? It's like well, there's something built into most computers that sort of automatically resets everything so that it's operational. And the really weird thing is, with human beings I don't think we naturally do that. We tend to do more rather than unplugging, we plug ourselves into more things and it's kind of like having that cell phone in your hand. You know the idea that you can disconnect from the technology and from the craziness of the world and have a bit of a reset. That is actually really quite important, I think, for people, especially these days, because the chaos tends to chase us Wherever we are.
Speaker 2:You wake up in the morning and there's chaos, and chaos no-transcript motorbike riders and I always remember like with the bike you would have a reserve tank and you would switch over to a reserve tank if you needed it, and I actually think that that is how we live our lives quite a bit as well. It's like, well, I'll just go into the reserve tank, but then the reserve tank is going to run out.
Speaker 1:It's not you know yeah, what about what happens when that happens?
Speaker 2:then you're stuck that's it, so that it's good to make us think, okay, okay, we do need a need. We have a need for rest. Um, it's important that we do right times to rest, and actually what I just picked up on from that quote as well was that, um, we, so almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, and I wonder what unplugging looks like yeah you and for me and for everything else, everyone else and you've mentioned about people living busy lives, um, that you can really have experienced burnout, um, but rest must be a form of healing, surely?
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, I think. I mean I've seen people take a break from church and someone says how can you encourage them to take a break when church becomes just a repetitive thing that you do because you have to do it, then you don't hunger for it and then it becomes part of this dysfunctional stew that makes up your whole life? And maybe sleeping on a Sunday and having brunch with somebody you love is an important thing to do, knowing that the church is still going to be there next week and that if you take some time to be, you know focus on your marriage, your relationship, your children, or maybe focus on you. I mean, there are single people who you know. They think, oh, I've got to go, I've got to go, I've got to go, and then, when they start feeling slightly out of balance, they've got to go more. Well, the answer must surely be in going more.
Speaker 1:So I will not only attend Sunday mornings. I'll do the Bible study, I'll do the women's group, I'll do the needle group and you're just like you're just going and going and going, because you can't find yourself, because you're lost in all the chaos of work and the things that you're doing with your religious walk, and so it's like the word retreat. I don't know if you've ever heard somebody say I'm going on a retreat. And it's one of these funny words because the word retreat in military terms is kind of like walking away from the back.
Speaker 2:I'm retreating.
Speaker 1:I'm going away from conflict, I'm going the opposite direction. So it almost feels counterintuitive to what you would think you would want to do is engage. I'm going to go and engage. No, I'm going to retreat, and it's an intentional stepping back, stepping aside, for the purpose of rebalancing, refreshing, renewing, restoring. I did a video when we were in Switzerland about renewal and I'll release it one of these days.
Speaker 1:But it's so important that we actually intentionally do things for refreshment. But that means clearing things out of the way. To make that happen, you have to be intentional about planning to do something to take you out of your normal routine. And that's the part that's so hard, because a lot of times when we have a gap in our work schedule, the first thing we do is we put family there. Oh, I got to go visit my family and I've got to visit the grandchild and I've got to do this.
Speaker 1:And so every little gap gets programmed and anything that looks like it's not programmed gets called waste of time. And you say, well, we can't waste that Saturday. What can we put on that Saturday? Because you know we don't have anything scheduled for that Saturday. Oh well, it's just going to be a waste of time. Well, what can you do to really get some richness out of that? Well, have a lie in, yeah, and you know, and, and watch a movie in the morning and go for a walk, and you know, and go see flowers and do something different that refreshes and renews you. What would go to a west end show or do something that might enrich you and and distract you from the things that otherwise are kind of getting you down? Or you know, especially, imagine people that have managerial jobs and they're having to deal with drama every day in the office and everybody coming in with their excuses of why they're not doing their job and the drama at work and affairs and marriages getting blown up. And it's like what do they do to disconnect and?
Speaker 1:how can they disconnect? And I think, well, prayer is the beginning of it, I think. And being intentional about prayer means sometimes you even can go to a retreat center. There are some really cool places in the UK and around the world. You know Google retreat center. There are some residential retreat centers where you can actually go and spend time.
Speaker 1:I used to do this once a week in London. The house isn't there anymore, but there was an old community called Cowley Fathers, the Society of St John the Evangelist, and it was a monastery and I would go to the monastery and absolutely loved it. I would spend the night and I would pray with the brothers and we would eat and I would get in such trouble because they usually ate in silence and the prior of the monastery, father Cgrove, would lean forward and he would ask me a question in the middle of the silence and then I had to decide do I answer the question because he's the prior and disrupt the silence, or do I remain silent, which would be not good, but it was always so wonderful, you know, not good, but it was always. I mean, it was always so wonderful, you know, and you know one of the guys sitting next to me was. He was at the Second Vatican Council as the Anglican representative.
Speaker 1:I mean, these people had such amazing, rich experience in the church and so I'm sitting there because it was a place where I could disconnect. I could go inside the gate and shut the door and it was like being in a little corner of heaven for a while and I knew that they would pray for me and I could pray with them and we would have communion and I could read the Bible and you can hear Big Ben out the window. The back of the place, it's right behind Westminster Abbey is where I used to go. Out the window, the back of the place, it's right behind Westminster Abbey, is where I used to go. And I think it's important to be intentional about knowing that you need to have retreats, that you need to have these times of refreshment, and I think the world almost shames us into thinking that you know, oh, you must be weak, you need to retreat and you need to have time away and you need to have a um, a mental health day and they say that's terrible.
Speaker 1:You must be. You must be weak if you need a mental health. No, we all need a mental health goodness what's wrong with you?
Speaker 2:I uh, I had a really interesting chat with a friend of mine who she's so busy because she's self-employed, so she is a TV and film writer and she obviously relies a lot on her own, you know, getting her work done so that she makes an income come, and she would run herself to the ground often because she was worried that, excuse me, if she doesn't rest she'll become unwell.
Speaker 2:But she has to work because she needs the income and there's this been this cycle for years and years and she would, she would quite often get really unwell because of the worry of not resting properly and not getting enough sleep.
Speaker 2:So she she recently had been doing some, uh, reading on it on, like reading scripture and praying about it, knowing that there was a unhealthy balance in her life, and she came to the conclusion she was like jesus, rested, like he. We can see that he had to take time to rest. We follow his example, like in everything, but we don't do that part very well and she was wondering why, so kind of like you're saying about being intentional, she is now having to really be intentional about making sure she rests and does stuff that's fun and you know if you've had yeah, you've had a hard day. Make sure you've got something nice to do when you get home, like having a nice hot bubble bath or something like that. But what really hit me was the Jesus rested. Jesus showed us that it was important to rest. I just would love to know your thoughts on that, about him, you know, retreating to the quiet places, for example thoughts on that about him.
Speaker 1:You know, retreating to the quiet places, for example yeah, come unto me, all ye that travail and are heavy laden. I've said those words in the office and the book of common prayer for years and years. Jesus tells us that that's where we're to go when we need rest. Um, you know it's so important and uh, and and this is not thinking on this you know the 84% of British people take holidays. That's a lot more than in the United States. I'm not sure about what the average is in different countries in the world, but that's, you know, that's a lot of breaks that people take intentionally. That means that 96 percent of british people consider holidays an essential. Uh, spend a. You know the budget item when we're thinking about what we spend our money on. 96 percent of the people in the population here consider spending money on holidays, um, essential.
Speaker 1:I would argue that resting and holidays are not necessarily the same thing because, there have been many times when I've taken a holiday and I've come back and I said I need a vacation from my holiday.
Speaker 1:I'm exhausted because we went with our children somewhere and it was just tiring because you're doing stuff and you're going, and you're going, and you're going and you come home and you go oh my gosh, I got to go back to work and I'm tired.
Speaker 1:So many people their experience of vacation and holiday is like that. What we're zeroing in on is not just vacation from work, but it's also a mental kind of disconnect, a spiritual disconnect, so that we find a way to find rest. Even in the middle of a holiday, we might not find rest. So you know, I'm pretty good at it though. I'm actually good at finding a way to rest and have an afternoon nap and things like that. But I think it's important to continue to prioritize not just the vacation and not just flying on easy jets somewhere pretty on easy jets somewhere pretty, but to actually have built into our minds that we need to make sure there's intentional downtime so that we can actually get the rest that God wants us to have when we're burdened and weary, that we come to Christ to find rest.
Speaker 2:Yes, I think so often we don't rest until maybe we've reached almost burnout or exhaustion.
Speaker 1:Yeah, why do you think people feel guilty about? About rest? What is? What is it that makes you feel guilty about telling someone you had a nap?
Speaker 2:do you know what this might just? I might have a bit of a problem I. I didn't really enjoy school, so this is where it's coming from, I think. But I found school was very driven and you stuck to the rules and you did your best. And you know, there was always something that you had to do, whether it was you had like a homework diary thing and you had to get it by your parents and if it wasn't signed, you could have got a detention and things like that.
Speaker 2:Very just, um, always improving, always improving um or doing your best.
Speaker 2:And I think that sometimes that model works and for me it didn't and I think in it, for people maybe like me and others that then makes you feel guilty when you're not in that mode, you're not in that um pupil mode, and I think also, depending on work, where you go and work, there's that same mentality and attitude of constantly excelling and there's no time for you to have a cup of coffee for 10 minutes.
Speaker 2:You take your coffee to your desk and you will drink it and you'll eat your lunch at your desk, like things like that, and um, I think that that can then make you feel guilty for prioritizing yourself and your and your personal well-being aside from your occupational stuff. Um, I think that's something I can really I can kind of relate to, and why I would feel guilty? Um, also, I think just because you see some people struggling and you see them still working their butt off in whatever way, whether it's feeding their family or it's um take kids to parties every weekend and you think, well, why should I be tired when they all you know they're living like that and so sacrificially. But uh, yeah, what? What do you think?
Speaker 1:I, I mean, I think, um, sometimes capitalism is a driver and and the guilt comes because people either think they're not making all the money they could make, they're not achieving all the success they could achieve. You know, it's the doctor who works through the lunch hour and gets to see five additional patients, and so he gets to tick a box at the end of the month to say how much more efficient he was or she was. I mean, that dollar sign thing, I know, robs people who, especially self-employed people, because they know that every hour they're working is more revenue. And it's like the traders in New York City who you know. Historically, the markets are open around the world 24 hours a day, and so you find them working in markets in the Far East in the middle of the night and then they work in the London Exchange at 4 am and they're making money as they work. They're making money and they can quantify the benefit of that work and that busyness because they see the actual return of the money. And so when money becomes the goal and the driver, then rest is antithetical to making money, you know, but it may seem that way.
Speaker 1:But then there's an old illustration that I've used in sermons before about the two guys in the wood chopping competition and they're deciding who's the best woodcutter in the town. And so they start off and start cutting these logs and every half hour or so the one guy looks over at the other guy and he's sitting beside the log in the shade and the other guy's just pounding his wood and pounding his wood and he's like there's no way this guy's going to beat me, because every 30 minutes he takes a break. And so he keeps chopping the wood and chopping the wood. And at the end of the day the sun goes down and they come to see who's got the biggest wood pile. And they look and the guy that's been chopping all day he's got a real big pile of wood from all of his effort. And they look over at the other guy and his pile of wood's bigger. And they said how is that possible? How is your pile of wood bigger than his pile of wood? And he said because every time you looked over and saw me sitting in the, I was sharpening my blade on my axe.
Speaker 1:And so the idea that we can rest. I think the fallacy is that it doesn't enhance our efficiency. I think as we rest we become more effective, more efficient and we become more visionary. I think we do better work, efficient and we become more visionary. I think we do better work and so I would argue that there is actually more money to be made by being the healthiest version of ourselves doing our jobs. But now it's hard to convince that to somebody who's making vast sums of money, because then they go, but no, but we're going to lose the deal, we're going to miss these opportunities. Something's the money, because then they go, but no, but we're going to lose the deal, we're going to miss these opportunities.
Speaker 1:And then I would say well, what is your real focus? You know what really matters to you. What about your family? You're not looking at the, the collateral damage of your chasing the almighty pound and dollar. You know what about the collateral damage. What about your children? What about your relationships? What about your parents?
Speaker 1:You know when you say, oh, I can't come to that birthday because I've got work, I've got this deadline at work and I can't prioritize these personal things over and above me making money and getting the awards. Because you know, I know a lot of companies. They give awards to people for, oh, we're going to give you an award for being the greatest seller and the greatest producer and all this stuff and you're like all these things are just gimmicks. To make money and to drive you, drive you and make you work through the overtime and to make you um, just buckle down and work hard. I would argue that real um success in work hard I I would argue that real um success in in that world is a person who is sane and stable and healthy at the end and does a good job and is happy about the product, but, uh, you don't die in the ditch for the sake of the company.
Speaker 1:You know definitely not work yourself to a frazzle. So many clergy do this too, you'll. You'll see posts on social media around easter and christmas and everybody's glorifying the fact that they're exhausted. Oh, I did 15 services today and I'm so. You know, I preached six different sermons today for easter and all my churches, and you're going. What's wrong with you? First of all, that's just stupid. And the second thing is it couldn't have been worth a flip, because anybody knows you can't preach that many different sermons on the same day and all you're doing is regurgitating. You're reading term papers that you've read and be. All you're doing is regurgitate. You're reading term papers that you've read, but it just drives me crazy to see them glorifying. You know the fact that they're suffering for Jesus.
Speaker 1:You know it's like that. There's a great line in the movie the Majestic. It's an old Jim Carrey movie and the guy looks at Jim Carrey and goes get down off the cross. There's already somebody hanging there. It's this idea that we want to suffer with Jesus and so much so that we want to displace Jesus so that people will see us as the great suffering servant of the community, as a pastoral leader. That's not real leadership. That's demonstrating that God would call you to sacrifice even your own sanity. Come on, that's not right. God wants us to be rested, rejuvenated. The word holiday actually comes from the word holy day. Love that.
Speaker 1:Imagine if we actually treated going on holiday as going to experience something holy to be set apart so that God can bless us in a new way, that our summer can be like a spiritual retreat. It doesn't have to have like a formal structure with a spiritual director or with a spiritual director, but it can be a spiritual retreat, sitting, sitting out in the field somewhere looking at the south downs and watching your dog run around and play. I mean that can be renewal time. That can be a holiday, that is a holy day definitely we.
Speaker 2:we experienced that yesterday, um, dan and I, because we said, right, we can either stay at home and just watch TV, which, to be fair, that's what we did on Saturday, really, so we didn't want to do I like that kind of Saturday?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So we said, why don't we go somewhere, be out in nature, get some fresh air? So we just took a picnic somewhere and it was just perfect. And we both came back feeling really refreshed and renewed and all we did was go to somewhere new and sit outside and enjoy each other's company, and it just shows that.
Speaker 2:You know, I was thinking when you were talking about people who are, um, particularly in work environments where it is just go, go, go, um, and particularly when it comes to clergy.
Speaker 2:I wonder if that's also. It can become dangerous, because we start to find rest in the wrong places, almost like fast food. Um, you know you're too tired to cook a nice hearty meal and you eat fast food, and I just wonder if we try and find our rest in those quick and easy places maybe it is drinking some beers when that, you know, and then that becomes your thing, um, or it is gratitude from other people that, uh, yeah, I just I just wonder if there is something uh dangerous about working so hard and then going to the wrong places for refuel yeah, I, I, um, I know that when, when we use the 23rd Psalm at a lot of people's funerals you know so many funerals I've done and you almost always have a member of the family standing up the second verse of that he makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.
Speaker 1:I mean, if we really embrace in life the 23rd Psalm, it's a call to refreshment and rest. It's a call for what you did yesterday. It's an actual call to say, if we really want to seek God in our lives, we need to find these places and we need to go there and we don't need to hurry through them and tick the boxes, we need to go and just sit. Like they say where I come from go and set a spell. It's a real country phrase, you know. I went there and set a spell.
Speaker 1:There's something really important to realize that. You know, like the great John Lubbock said, rest is not idleness and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees is by no means a waste of time. You know, it's so true that we've got to redeem rest from people who would make us think that micro naps and micro rest and micro retreating is somehow the norm. It's not the norm. It's this new thing that has come about to try and justify this new way of living and working, which I think is unhealthy, and I think, ultimately, I think the pendulum is going to swing back in the direction of being more intentional.
Speaker 2:I mean, look at the Scandinavian countries who are trying all sorts of things with the reduced work week and the reduction in school days and various things, and the results that they're getting in terms of happiness quotient and quality of education they're they're right on the top of the scales yeah, the rest of the world, I think, needs to kind of think about what it is that we've done to demonize the idea of of making holy days a part of our normal routine yeah, that's a really, really good point, and it is good to look at other countries other people, isn't it and see what they're doing and and to learn learn from other people, like what works for them. Um, and I'm just thinking of some things that people might do. It could be that you do a digital detox. That can always be good.
Speaker 1:It's important for me. I know that I'm an addict to my phone and all things digital.
Speaker 2:But everything is designed now for us to access information in that way, and so we have to be intentional in going. I'm just going to take some time away from that. Maybe prayer walks are good as well. I know some of our teams have done prayer walks in their local areas.
Speaker 1:um, but that's just walk, walks yeah honestly, I think when you do physical activity, when you exert yourself, either riding a bike or walking or do whatever you do um, there is something divine that happens. I don't know that. You mean, I was walking around in the mountains in Switzerland with my kids and it becomes a prayer walk. Yeah, you talk for a little while and then all of a sudden you find yourself walking in the presence of people you love and you don't talk for like an hour because you're tired physically, but you're surrounded by splendor and majesty.
Speaker 1:And I think, walking to the grocery store, you know, I can walk down to Sainsbury's or the Co-op or Marks and Spencer's, and during that walk there's something physical going on, but there's also something spiritual happening in me just doing these activities, where I put my phone away and I just walk and I find myself in a conversation with God. And sometimes I'm just kind of going. What are you doing? You know where are you, what's up? And in that stillness, in that quietness, I think there's something really amazing where I mean I guess you could argue that healing is happening in that quietness, in that stillness, that there is healing For me personally, I think that I hear God speaking in those moments. You know that it's really important and impactful for me.
Speaker 2:It is and again you're being intentional but also it gives God the opportunity to meet with you in a way that we might almost be not blocking him. But you know, when we're in the busyness of our lives it must be harder for God sometimes to actually speak to us, because our minds are busy, our ears are busy. Um, and it does say in one kings, doesn't it, that god speaks in the whisper? He spoke in the whisper. Do you find that when you are taking those quiet moments, or do you feel that you actually hear him quite loudly?
Speaker 1:or isn't that funny, I I it's different. I think sometimes, uh, sometimes I feel like he's punching me in the nose. He's really getting my attention in a loud way. And then there are other times when I think memories will come of things that have happened in the past and it's kind of going through. It's like going through a photo album in your mind of beautiful things in life and reflecting on those with God. It's almost like sitting on the couch with your mother and looking through a photo album and listening to her say see how beautiful that was. And oh, you were just a gorgeous little boy.
Speaker 1:And you're having this moment of going through a photo album and then there's a reflection on oh yeah, that was when we were at the beach and this was taken when we took that trip. But imagine doing that with God and walking down the street to Marks and Spencer and you're on the pavement and the world's rushing by and the buses are going, and then you're having this moment where you think of an event that happened that was special to you, that touched you and a particular person that encouraged you, and then you're imagining God speaking to you about how wonderful that memory is and reflecting with you about this thing and it's such a blessing. But if the world is too filled with noise inside your head and your heart, my guess is you never end up having that little inner dialogue where you sit with God and you kind of bask in that glorious memory. But I've been really blessed recently, you know, as I did in the previous podcast we talked about the death of an old friend of mine. I've been trolling through a whole lot of those memories and it's been really awesome to kind of look at those memories with God and to give thanks to God for each one of those little things.
Speaker 1:And so my restfulness and my retreating is filled with that reflection and that contemplation about the good things. The bad things are there too, and that's the hard part, because you're also finding yourself thinking about oh, this was good and this happened, and this was good and this happened. And then you think about a horrible tragedy, something that happened that was just awful. And then you are still sitting there with God looking at the photo album. And then you look at God and you go where were you? You should have been there, that shouldn't have happened. And then you have a different kind of dialogue in that moment and hopefully there's a turn of a page and God says but here, I'm here, and I'm here and I haven't forgotten you and I'm sorry you were crying.
Speaker 1:And it's that real active dialogue with God that is that intimate, which is my goal in life. I think a lot of people don't have that kind of intimacy with God and so their prayer life is not quite so I don't know how you put it illuminated or rich. There's a richness in talking about God in a very personal way, where you actually say, no, no, I have a conversation with God. And someone says do you need to be checked into a mental hospital? I mean, you're having a conversation with God. Yes, I'm not crazy, I have a conversation with a living God who is fully present and engaged in the world, and that conversation is deeply spiritual, engaged in the world, and that conversation is deeply spiritual. Again, I think the more we disconnect from the world, the more we can connect with divine things and have an ongoing dialogue with God.
Speaker 2:I think also that's kind of what Psalm 46 means when it says be still and know that I'm God. I don't know if that is always necessary about like okay, I'm gonna be really quiet, I gotta be still, I gotta, you know, go into that place. I think it's what you're saying. It's it's the posture and the way that you interact with god. Um, examples that you've just given are really really good, because what you're saying is I can have that intimacy and that um intention of being with god even on the move and even in a quiet place what does stillness look like to you?
Speaker 1:I mean what? What is to be still? What is stillness?
Speaker 2:stillness for me is is not just sitting in a chair in the choir, it's I would. For me it's definitely nature. Um, I just find a real peace being around. Um, I don't sound silly, but trees and the, the breeze moving, I find that is a stillness for me.
Speaker 1:But what's going on in you when you're experiencing nature Because, see, I think, be still and know that I'm God has to do with us at our deepest level. That God is kind of like the old.
Speaker 1:you know the old radio, for the police officers used to have a squelch level on it and the squelch would be this like staticky noise, and if the squelch was turned up too high you couldn't actually hear the voices because all you heard was the yeah, yeah and and uh, and I would say, be still and know that I'm god is about learning how to adjust the squelch so that when you're in the trees and you're beside the river and you're hearing the babbling brook and you see the flowers and you see the butterfly I mean, I'm a nature guy too, although when you hear a good U2 song or even a, you know, an Ozzy Osbourne song that really hits and a guitar riff that you're just like man, that's the best ACDC ever.
Speaker 1:Those can be moments where I think, if we're still in the presence of God, that the squelch is turned off, which means life can be more animated and rich and we notice things that we didn't notice before, because the static's not in the way, and so, you know, I love listening to like the richness of u2. Lyrics are just like mind-boggling sometimes and and uh, you know, I would love to go have a beer with bono, and and, just like I got all these questions, I would ask him and it's like, how can I be living in a way that makes my interaction with art and nature and all these things just crystal clear, because when I go to a West End show, I want to see it, I want to experience it, I want to smell it. I don't want to have anything distracting me and there's nothing worse than being in the middle of Act One and having some late comer come and crawl down the aisle in front of you and you're like, you know, you're right in the middle of this big moment in the opening of a show and then somebody who's late getting there comes in front of you. Oh, excuse me, pardon me, excuse me, pardon me, pardon me, excuse me, and you're going.
Speaker 1:What are you doing?
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah reckon this for me, I guess be still and know that I'm god is is kind of like being in the theater and just saying sit down yeah, everybody stop stop what you're doing and pay attention yeah, yeah and and I I want to be that guy who's attentive, because I don't want to miss stuff and I think it's too easy to allow the world to rob you of the beauty and the clarity and the joy and the harmony. And so I guess I want to create Sabbath in you know and rest in each day of my life, and not just an intentional sabbath kind of holiday rest, um, but to to actually have sabbath rest as a part of every day of of our living yeah, I think, in a way, the, the, the word be is actually the.
Speaker 2:It's really important. It's it's the being, it's how you are being is really important. So I, I quite like actually the, if you emphasize the be still and know that I am god. Like what does that look? You've mentioned sabbath moment. I think that I had a.
Speaker 1:I had an advisor who used to say we need to learn to be human beings and not human doings.
Speaker 2:Very true yeah.
Speaker 1:What does it look like to be a real, authentic human being, someone who's comfortable in their own skin? So, and I guess there's some practical things that we can think about as we finish up this particular podcast on resting and vacations and holidays and holy days. You know, I like to think that when I walk I breathe, and sometimes I kind of breathe heavily because I'm kind of out of shape, I'm trying to get there, but having some sort of breath prayers are important and I remember in I guess it was in 1989, there was a professor that taught us a breath prayer and we used to do. I guess we started out Lord have mercy, christ have mercy, and so we would actually we'd actually use our hands and sort of breathe in Lord have mercy, christ have mercy, lord have mercy, christ have mercy. And then that became Kyrie eleison, christe eleison, kyrie eleison, christe liaison.
Speaker 1:There's something you know you could say Lord Jesus, bring me peace, lord, you know whatever works for you, but the idea that you can do something that's sort of repetitive like breathing. There is something called centering prayer that you can Google. Centering prayer is a kind of intentional thing where you try and center and pray. This is just kind of breathing exercises to help focus you so that you're not thinking about your breath as much as you're thinking about God while you breathe. So I think again when you're thinking about how to detach and things you can do. I peace while you're breathing is a way of helping you to kind of recover and restore from a bad dream or a bad day. You know it's on your walk home, just giving it to God. It almost turns into a Pentecostal speaking in tongues kind of thing, because you're truly just letting go of words, words, and you're letting your breath be a gift to god and then you're taking in god's gift in your as you inhale and you're having this little divine dance with, uh, with the heavenly divine dance.
Speaker 2:Um. Another thing we mentioned, I think, previously, is reflective journaling. So thinking what is God restoring in me, and just noting down sometimes how you're feeling is really helpful. Could you bring us to a close with a hopeful scripture?
Speaker 1:I've never been a big journaler, though.
Speaker 2:You haven't, I did journal.
Speaker 1:Back in the early 90s I journaled for a short time and at that point in my life it was a good thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It just doesn't quite work for me like it used to, but I think everybody's got their own jam.
Speaker 2:I agree.
Speaker 1:And I think the really bad thing is when people who love to journal tell you that that's what you need to do. You need to learn to like journaling.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no not really.
Speaker 1:Some people just say get in the Word, read Scripture. Read Scripture in a way that you haven't read Scripture before, like straight through, or read an epistle from beginning to end in one sitting. So some people scripture is a good catalyst. But I wonder whether there's something to be said for being quiet before God, because the world is so noisy and if we make our spiritual journey another to do list where we've got to do something, I think there's something really profound in sitting in a chair for a half an hour with no agenda, with nothing to accomplish, but just sitting quietly in a chair in the back garden and just be fully present in that back garden and suddenly you start hearing birds and you hear dogs and you hear construction work a street over. You're just fully kind of present in the backyard and then all of a sudden something will click. And when you're taking that Sabbath rest in your back garden I mean for me anyway there are moments where I start hearing the voice of God in that.
Speaker 1:But it takes a while and I wonder whether people need to discipline themselves into actually doing that on a regular basis and say I need to make sure that I get away, and then when you do take your formal holiday and you go on vacation somewhere, you know, make sure that you don't feel guilty about telling your family hey, from 9 to 10 each morning, I'm going to sit in my chair over there by the campsite and I just want you to leave me alone.
Speaker 1:I may be reading a book, I may have headphones on, I may just be sitting with a cup of coffee, but that's going to be my time and there's nothing you need to feel guilty about. About recognizing how important that sharpening the blade time is, and each of us can find that for ourselves in some way if we're intentional about it. So I think that's why we did this podcast is because we wanted to remind everybody that it really is important to take this seriously and don't just think, oh, it'll happen, it'll'll find its way, but that we have to actually, um, be intentional about rest and about, uh, taking care of ourselves so helpful.
Speaker 2:Chris, thank you. I think this would also be a great um in-person sort of ministry, um opportunity. I know that acorn, many years ago, used to do quiet days when we were at white hill chase, where you could come and experience those quiet moments. And then I just wonder, maybe if that's something we could explore again, um through our healing hubs, I think we should pray about it I think there's.
Speaker 1:There's certainly a call in the world for more intentional quiet work. I think what we can certainly do is encourage the local church and the local church leaders to make intentional quiet rest more popular in today's society. So let me finish with a poem. I've got a poem here I wanted to read today. May your summer be spacious, May your soul find stillness, May your rest be holy and may healing rise like the morning sun.
Speaker 2:Amen to that. That's wonderful. Thank you again, chris, and so good to be with you, who are listening and watching, and we will catch you at the next.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Don't forget to like, follow and subscribe.
