The Seventh Month of Rest: Why taking a sabbatical leads back to Jesus

Every July when the heat ramps up to unbearable heights and heat stroke threatens those without air conditioning, the pastor of my hometown church takes a sabbatical. For those who’ve never heard the term before, a sabbatical is simply a leave of absence from your regular work. It’s a practice of sabbath on a larger scale than we typically do on the weekend.

As a younger person his leaving for a whole month puzzled me, that he left the running of the church and the Sunday morning sermons in the hands of other associate pastors for four weeks. My parents assured me this was a biblical practice of rest and restoration and centering yourself within God again.

But still I wondered, does God’s work stop during the sabbatical? Doesn’t it require our full and constant attention to accomplish God’s mission?

In my mind, God’s work never stopped. There are always people to serve, ways to help, and lost people in need of a savior, which is true. But the constant need of Christ in the world does not mean my mind and body and soul need no rest.

Walking the Line of Burnout

In seasons past I walked as close to burnout as I did to Jesus, feet uncomfortably warm from the heat. Taking an extra-large class load, working as often as I could in graduate school, running a full-time blog, being a full-time mom and also working a part-time job. Are you sensing a pattern here?

The most common pathway to burnout is as simple as piling too much onto your plate without taking some non-essentials off of it. There are other ways to find yourself face-to-face with burnout, like being the Yes-Person of your social group, always counted on to help out at a moment’s notice. Or, maybe you’ve worked with a diligent determination to reach your spot in the company and you can tell a promotion is just around the corner, which means you can’t let up yet.

There are many reasons we find ourselves too close or right in the thick of burnout, but, good news, we already know the solution to our problem: Rest. This is where the idea of a sabbatical comes into play. You’ve heard before how weekly rest is modeled for us in the bible by God, who rested on the seventh day.

We see the number seven—the number of completion or perfection—again and again in the bible. God created the earth in seven days. Jesus told Peter to not simply forgive someone seven times, but 70 times seven (Matt. 18:21-22).

Joshua led the Israelites around the city of Jericho for seven days. On the seventh day, Joshua led them around the city walls seven more times before blasting the horns of the seven priests. As they carried the ark of the covenant into the city, a symbol of God’s presence among the people, Joshua instructed the “seven priests carry seven ram’s-horn trumpets in front of the ark” (Joshua 6:4). There is clearly something to this number seven, and the day of rest in the creation story is no less important than those shared above.

When I had a baby, my lesson on rest was fast and furious. Here are three things I learned about rest after having a baby:

1. Rest is a precious gift.

Are you picturing this rest as a nap at two in the afternoon during the post-lunch slump? Or maybe you’re picturing rest as an evening taking a bath, giving yourself a facial, and listening to calming music? Those are forms of restful, self-care, which is also important, but true rest is quite different. The rest offered to us on a sabbath is the kind of restorative rest we will not find anywhere else. It’s a specific and intentional time away from regular activities, such as work or travel or social media, instead focusing our time on the Lord. We often think of time unplugged from our world as wasted time or as lazy, but the break this time offers is really a gift from God, for us to right ourselves in relation to Him.

2. Rest is a biblical practice.

Like I mentioned before, the number seven is all over the bible if you pay close enough attention as you read. The Israelites were charged to keep the sabbath day and to keep it holy. Not only were they instructed to set aside a full day, but they were also to honor this day as holy. I won’t get into the specifics of when you practice a sabbath here; you know your schedule. The important part is that you do practice this in some way out of obedience to God. No, we are not under the old covenant with the resurrection of Jesus as Savior, but a weekly observance of the sabbath aligns my heart with God’s. It’s an old method we can use in our modern world to grow closer to God.

3. Rest is where God does the holy work of restoration and renewal.

As mentioned in number one, this kind of rest is more specific and intentional than you think it is. The Israelites took the command to keep the sabbath day holy and to abstain from work to the extreme, going to legalistic measures to ensure no one worked in any way. We don’t have to go to their extreme, but it is easier to practice your sabbath when you plan ahead, getting any work out of the way ahead of time. When I enter this space and period of rest, it is with the expectation of God’s holy work of renewal and restoration. To us a period of rest might seem like wasted time or make us feel lazy, but God is working in us during this time. In obedience we enter His presence of rest, and with blessing He renews our minds and spirits and restores our soul and body.

Over-functioning and Anxiety

Last week I listened to Emily P. Freeman’s podcast The Next Right Thing, where I turn when my soul feels heavy. She talks about over-functioning in this episode, and in describing the state of her over-functioning, over-working life, she described mine.

“Over-working can be an indicator of over-functioning, but over-functioning doesn’t only apply to your work. It can also show up in our relationships,” said Freeman.

This year it’s become increasingly apparent there is a mental battle with anxiety taking place within me, which in years past I white-knuckled through in order to simply survive, mashing down or outright ignoring the struggle. Looking back through reflection I recognize its presence in my life and the pattern of its erratic behavior, more than simply in 2020 and following, although that was an exceptionally hard year with this, as well.

What I’ve learned in my own research while waiting to meet with a professional counselor is white-knuckling and over-functioning are my default setting. More than once I’ve looked over my calendar and daily to-do lists wondering if it’s possible to downsize my work life and what that might look like. There are still no solid conclusions about how exactly to do this and on what to press pause or, altogether, let go.

It’s true, I struggle with anxiety and have no clear methods or coping strategies to get me out when I feel stuck, and friends, I’ve felt stuck for a while now. As we move into the seventh month of the year, a year which feels busier than most, my next right thing is a sabbatical. As new project ideas begin to take shape in my mind, I need a change of pace, a change of rhythm to allow God to do His holy work within me.

The four weeks of July, I’ll be incognito here, but still hanging around my favorite social platform, Instagram, using the handle @jenniferfriales. If you’d like to follow along with me by pressing pause on something for the month of July, I’d love to hear about it. Leave a comment below with yours.