Does Our Theology of Work Include Rest and Recreation?
“A part of recreation is rest. God demonstrates a pattern of rest at the end of the creation account, when he ‘rested from all his work that he had done in creation’ (Gen. 2:3). The God who does not tire stopped and rested.” - IFWE
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Ec 5:12 The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.
I cannot help but think about the abundance we have that allows us to stay up late with the lights on and look at our screens. I also think about the day I was working on a roof for 13 hours and how sweet the sleep was that night.
I have come to realize that I need to steward sleep and rest and make it a priority.
It’s amazing how much sleep helps. For most of my adult life I have slept around six hours/night. When I started cycling to work and back, I couldn’t recover without sleeping longer. I immediately noticed how much better I feel in other ways too. I try for 8 but usually get 6:30-7 and it has been great.
I need 8 hours. I tend to be more physically active, so that may make a difference too, but if I went too many days with only 6 hrs I would get a headache and have more trouble focusing. There are a lot of health issues related to too little sleep. My uncle died of a heart attach at 69 yrs old. He was working switching between day and night shifts so his sleep patterns were messed up. Another friend of mine was working at the same place and working similar shifts and ended up with a heart attack in his early 40’s. I do not think it was a coincidence.
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