PACE, REST, AND SUSTAINABILITY

My father taught me to learn a man’s working hours and respect them. Good men work hard, but when they consider the day’s work over it’s time for them to be with their family without business distractions. For those of us whose professions are public service business hours can be messy to define. In theory our work is confined to an office, but there are continual outside meetings and social obligations. My day usually starts at 5 a.m. and ends around 9 p.m. Most of my adult life has been spent pastoring or lecturing so I am basically available for people during their available hours. The benefit is that I can take mid-morning or afternoon breaks to rest and play to keep my sanity.

A few months ago, I discovered that for many in public service in Rwanda the work day starts at 7 a.m., and theoretically ends at 3:30 p.m. I was thrilled to do early morning meetings. In visiting offices I mentioned that I’m usually up at 5 a.m. to check e-mails and organize before I do my daily exercise around 6 a.m. To my surprise a few other government civil servants also start about the same time, and I’ve had a few phone calls at 5 a.m. Apparently, we early morning risers are always happy to find a few compatriots.

Again, I’m thrilled at their work ethics and find myself cheering for their success. However, I’m starting to notice a pattern with my early morning friends. I can’t find their scheduled time to rest and play.

Human nature left to its own devices tends to move towards extremes. In work we tend to be those who either do all we can to dodge work, or we become those who hunger continually for more. I joke with my students that we either prefer the 7 days of work to 0 days of rest ratio, or the 0 days of work to 7 days of rest ratio. Training our minds, bodies, and spirits for moderation can be a real challenge.

Physical pain has taught me to balance rest and exercise, pace my work, and to have better boundaries to keep stress manageable. A few years ago, I came across an insightful idea for those of us still training from our 30’s till departure from this earth – cross training. As we age, our bodies can not tolerate the stress of repetition. They need both intentional rest and exercise pace to stay in top form. Practically, this means you do not jog everyday. Neither do you golf, play football nor basketball everyday. Instead, you alternate between your chosen fields of exercise. If I run every day, my knees hurt. If I go to the gym everyday, my shoulders and back hurt. Only by alternating my exercise routine can I still find joy in the journey, and allow the pain to strengthen my body, mind, and spirit.

Distance runners learn the value of both community and pace. We run our best when we run with someone else. I’m always looking for someone just a little younger and faster to push me to a new best time. However, we all have our moments where community turns to competition. The results can be disastrous. We cease to run at our pace, and run as another. At first it’s thrilling. Our ambition wonders about the limits of our bodies. The first miles feel fabulous. Then we hit the wall of our limitations, and it all falls apart. Before we reach the finish line we are spent. Our ambition turns to our failure.

Good coaches know this truth. They intentionally push their protégés at just the right time so their bodies are challenged to new places. However, they know to back off and schedule rest so that the body rebuilds itself stronger. Then before the most important contests, they schedule several days to rest body and mind. Rest is part of the discipline of success.

I worry about my friends in the Rwandan public service. When will they hit their wall? What will be the limits of their bodies, minds, and spirits? A few will run for years at an unstoppable pace, but the Western world is full of the fruits of workaholic fathers. The best can sustain a record setting pace for a lifetime. However, record setting work paces will never last for generations. Life forces us all to retire. No pace is sustainable for eternity. What will happen to the next generation of leaders if their fathers don’t gently instruct them about the character of life through intentional rest and play?

I think this is the reason that the concept of a Sabbath was so important to the Jewish community. God knew we needed rest from the toils and frustrations of life. Only in rest would life be sustainable for generations. When the nation of Israel returned to their promise land following their dispersion in Babylon, they asked the why question to God. What had gone wrong? How could they prevent another tragic dispersion? Their best minds concluded it was not just the vilest of sins, but their lack of scheduled rest (Nehemiah 13:15-22). Thousands of years later we still don’t get it.

Come run with me to a place of rest.