The Hard Work of Rest

by Stephen R. Graves

Corporate America is certainly one of the greatest testing grounds for personal faith and conviction. With an increasing number of believers across the globe seeking to integrate their faith into the workplace, the editors of Life@Work have targeted five key areas in work in which Christians can apply God's Truth. Looking at the topics of Ethics (ISBN: , Rest (ISBN: 0849942616), Calling, Ambition, and Coaching, each book provides relevant quotes, illustrations, principles and life application questions. These books are excellent for individual study or group interaction and discussion.

Genres: Christian Living

76 pages, Paperback

First published January 2, 2001

About the author

Taken from Stephen R. Graves website:

Steve is an organizational strategist, pragmatic theologian and social capitalist. At any given time, he is advising 5-6 executives or business owners, along with 3-4 young energetic social entrepreneurs. He sits on a half dozen boards, holds degrees in multiple subjects, writes often and speaks occasionally. He lives in Northwest Arkansas with his wife Karen, has three adult children and if he doesn’t return your call quickly there is a good chance he snuck off to the river…again.

Reviews

[Reid · Rating 4 out of 5]

I need the message of this book applied to my life - family, work, ministry
--- on my bad days, I think is there ever joy and a sense of refreshment, or is this the lot of a Christian: to work a lot, to work hard and then feel that the only rest is found in some kind of selfish indulgence to escape.
--- on my good days, I think, I need to push through, keep it together and try my hardest to stay away from selfish indulgences.

This small book caused me to confront myself about how tightly I have wound up my life and what I can start to do to decrease the stress and tension and increase the restedness and peace.

I especially appreciated Principles 3,4, 6, and 14.

I present the main ideas and questions below so I can come back to this for a regular review

This older edition is written by Stephen Graves, Thomas Addington and Sean Womack. They put together a series of Principles:

1. Rest is a part of the rhythm of life: a mandate from God
- List the things you do to make rest a part of your life
- Whose example are you following when it comes to practicing rest, God's or the devil's?

2. Rest is not the opposite of work
- Make a list of the things that create a tug-of-war in your life between work and rest
- How can you chage your attitudes and your actions so that they both are pulling on the same end of the rope?

3. Work always attempts to invade rest.
- How is work 'invading' the time you need to use for rest and relation?
- How can you alter your schedule or build in checks and balances to protect your rest times?

4. Rest requires faith.
- How is your faith in the concept of rest showing up in the way you live?
- Are you taking action and trusting God for results, or is your faith limited to what you think the world expects?

5. Rest is a lifestyle (part 1)
- How is rest or lack of rest a part of your lifestyle?
- How would your family and friends answer that question?

6. Rest is a lifestyle (part 2)
- On a scale from 1 to 5, 5 being best, how do you stack up in regard to Dr. Richard Swenson's prescriptions?
SET BOUNDARIES
PROTECT OPEN SPACES
RESTORE THE PRACTICE OF SABBATH REST
FAST; LIE FALLOW
FREE YOURSELF FROM THE OPINION OF OTHERS

7. Rest (re)connects us with God
- If you don't already do so, schedule a regular 'quiet time' each day for the next week. Use that time to connect with God, specifically as it relates to your work.

8. Rest can be productive personally
- How does rest or lack of rest, impact your personality and your personal productivity?

9. Rest can be productive professionally
- How has lack of rest impacted your productivity on the job over the years?
- Can you point to times when stress and fatigue caused you to make mistakes that you might not have made otherwise?

10. The mind and body need rest
- Do you get enough consistent rest to truly get 'untorqued'?
- Or do you experience signs of burnout and extreme fatigue within a short period of returning from a vacation?
- How can you build consistent rest into your schedule to help prevent torque?

11. Rest helps us deal with the stress of change.
- How does the fast-paced, ever changing atmosphere impact your ability to rest?
- How does true rest help you deal with the stresses of those changes?

12. Rest takes different forms
- List some things that you find restful.
- What activities do you participate in that are significantly different from your work and thus allow you to rest from your work?

13. Rest often leads to defining moments.
- What life-changing questions or issues are you considering during times of rest and reflection?
- Do you think more deeply when you have opportunities to rest and reflect?
- Are you a good steward of that time?

14. Environment plays a key role in experiencing rest
- What are the 5 places where you find the most rest?
- What is it about those locations that allows you to reflect and attain some sense of peace?

15. Rest can be hard to handle.
- How hard it it to switch gears and give your mind and body over to rest and relaxation?
- What excuses do you make for not embracing opportunities to experience productive rest?

16. Good leaders promote and model rest
- How are you modeling proper rest for the people within your sphere of influence?
- When they see you at work, are they picking up on stress and panic or peace and restedness?

[Andy Mason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read book. Short chapters. Inspirational, challenging and realigning of what is important.