Sabbath Rest: Taking Time to Reflect and Renew

We live in a hurried age. Work deadlines, endless emails, children’s events, caring for aging parents, and social media updates—all of it piles up. We work all week, then spend the weekend working at home or in the yard, only to repeat it all again the next week. Sometimes, we feel like we need a vacation just to recover from vacation! I remember once renting a satellite phone just so I could track the markets while hiking in a remote mountainous region (was I crazy?)!

If we do not intentionally break this cycle, eventually it will break us. Constant hurry leads to anxiety, short tempers, and declining mental health. We eat poorly, we neglect exercise, and our bodies grow weaker. Our souls become restless and weary. At some point, a straw will break the camel’s back. 

The concept of Sabbath is more than a religious observance; it is a gift, an antidote to this endless striving. Jesus said, ​“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath”​ (Mark 2:27). God knew it was not good for us to work without pause. A day of rest was not designed for God’s benefit, but for ours. 

Sabbath is more than a designated day; it is an attitude or state of being.  Hebrews 3 and 4 implore the reader to not harden their heart, but to enter into the Sabbath rest of God.  It is living with a humble and open heart. 

Sabbath is a time to reflect. To step back and ask questions like: What am I doing with my life? Where am I going? What needs to change? Who do I need to be more intentional with? We need to ask deep questions. Without moments of reflection, we simply repeat the same patterns, chasing life like a hamster on a wheel. 

Sabbath is also a time to renew. Renewal takes time and does not happen when we are rushing from one thing to the next. We must stop, breathe, and recharge. This is the spirit of ​AWE​: 

• Aware – Breathe. Notice your surroundings and the life pulsing within you.
• Wonder – Take time to be amazed. Reflect not only on what is but also on what could be.
• Enjoy – Let yourself delight in this simple moment of renewal. 

Sabbath is the pause that restores our soul. It is a rhythm of grace, an invitation to step off the treadmill of endless activity and rediscover the joy of simply being. 

(Sabbath Rest and Renewal, by author with ChatGPT, 2025)

• St. Augustine: “Our hearts are restless until they rest in You, O Lord.” (Confessions)

• Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel: “The Sabbath is the cathedral in time, a day to rest in the presence of eternity.” (The Sabbath)

• Wendell Berry: “The world is not given by our fathers, but borrowed from our children. We have a responsibility to return it with grace. To rest is to honor that gift.” (Wendell Berry, The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry, 2002)

• Genesis 2:2-3: “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.” (NIV)

AWE
Aware.  Which quote speaks to you?
Wonder.  Contemplate what this means to you.
Enjoy/Engage/Experience.  What is your next step?

• Henri Nouwen: “The Sabbath renews us by reminding us that we are not defined by what we do but by who we are in God.” (The Way of the Heart)

• Rumi: “Stop the endless striving; let your soul renew itself in the quiet of love.” (The Essential Rumi)

• Tao Te Ching 15: “The wise rest not out of laziness but to renew their strength for the journey ahead.”

• Isaiah 40:31: “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (NIV)

AWE
Aware.  Which quote speaks to you?
Wonder.  Contemplate what this means to you.
Enjoy/Engage/Experience.  What is your next step?

• St. John Chrysostom: “The Sabbath is a holy day, set apart to worship the Creator who gives us rest.” (Homilies on Genesis)

• Julian of Norwich: “In resting, we honor God, who rests with us in love.” (Revelations of Divine Love)

• Chief Seattle: “The land does not belong to us; we belong to the land. Rest honors the Creator of all.” (Speech of 1854)

• Rumi: “Rest, and you will hear the music of the heavens in the silence.” (The Essential Rumi)

• Bhagavad Gita 6:18: “When the mind is at peace and the soul rests, one is united with the divine.”

• Psalm 46:10: “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (NIV)

AWE
Aware.  Which quote speaks to you?
Wonder.  Contemplate what this means to you.
Enjoy/Engage/Experience.  What is your next step?

• Thomas Aquinas: “The soul needs rest, for without it, the body cannot serve the divine purpose.” (Summa Theologica)

• Thich Nhat Hanh: “Resting is a deep act of love, for it allows us to heal.” (Peace Is Every Step)

• Rumi: “The cure for exhaustion is not rest but to feel the joy of being alive again.” (The Essential Rumi)

• The Dhammapada 276: “Those who rest in truth find healing and wholeness in their souls.”

• Matthew 11:28: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (NIV)

AWE
Aware.  Which quote speaks to you?
Wonder.  Contemplate what this means to you.
Enjoy/Engage/Experience.  What is your next step?

• St. Irenaeus: “The rest of the Sabbath is a foretaste of the eternal rest in God.” (Against Heresies)

• Simone Weil: “To rest is to align oneself with God’s rhythm, which governs all creation.” (Waiting for God)

• Rumi: “When the soul is at rest, it reflects the eternal light of the Beloved.” (The Essential Rumi)

• Tao Te Ching 16: “Rest brings clarity, for in stillness, the truth reveals itself.”

• Hebrews 4:9-10: “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.” (NIV)

AWE
Aware.  Which quote speaks to you?
Wonder.  Contemplate what this means to you.
Enjoy/Engage/Experience.  What is your next step?

• Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (New Source): “The Sabbath is the cathedral in time, a day to rest in the presence of eternity.” (The Sabbath)

• Tao Te Ching 15: “The wise rest not out of laziness but to renew their strength for the journey ahead.”

• Rumi: “Rest, and you will hear the music of the heavens in the silence.” (The Essential Rumi)

• Thich Nhat Hanh: “Resting is a deep act of love, for it allows us to heal.” (Peace Is Every Step)

• Hebrews 4:9-10: “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.” (NIV)

AWE
Aware.  Which quote speaks to you?
Wonder.  Contemplate what this means to you.
Enjoy/Engage/Experience.  What is your next step?