Prior to becoming a CAF Chaplain, I was a Pastor in a local church. As I Pastor, I both looked forward to, and dreaded the time of Holy Week (culminating with Easter). This period in the Church’s calendar is the core of our faith and traditions. It’s a time of deep reflection and celebration. It was and is the highlight in the life of the Church. But it was also a time that was extremely busy, especially for church leaders. We are doing the things we love, but even when doing wonderful, uplifting, encouraging things, we are still spending ourselves, and for an introvert like me, the finite energy runs out, and once Easter Sunday afternoon arrives, I am typically exhausted.
We all know we need to rest and refresh at times. Whether we actually do that – and whether we do it well or not – is another story. However we hopefully can agree that rest is important. We are normally more aware of this need when our lives are busy, stressful, and less positive. But even when the stuff that keeps us busy is stuff we enjoy, when we are spending ourselves on positive things, we need to be aware of our need for rest. That rest may look different, but it is still just as vital.
We have experienced a lot of stress through two years of this pandemic, and had fewer opportunities for healthy rest for our minds, bodies, and souls. As we’ve shifted and begun to have new opportunities to be with family and friends, it is still important to check ourselves (and maybe do a buddy check too) and to be honest; how are you really? Resiliency requires to sometimes see the strain, and intentionally rest.
By: Capt Graham Ware
