Why we should all be allowed to take a Sabbath

The Judeo-Christian idea of the Sabbath has been on my mind recently, most likely because of my personal schedule. College for most is either boring or impossible, with too much leisure or not enough time. I find myself in the latter position, where extracurricular involvement, tedious classes, relationships and personal hobbies jumble together to form one restless day after another. The reason why, I presume, the notion of the Sabbath has crept into my mind is because of the chaos of this semester. In short, I need rest — or maybe a month of backpacking through Ireland or a week at the beach.

The Sabbath, for those who are unfamiliar, is a designated day of rest and abstinence from all forms of work. It originates from the Old Testament story of Genesis, where God rested on the seventh day of creation and eventually, in the book of Exodus, commands the exiled Israelites to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. On the surface, the prescription seems a bit loony or at least strange. A command from God to resist work? Shouldn’t it be the opposite? Since humans often enjoy not having to struggle or work, shouldn’t God be pushing us to work eight hours a day for the whole week?

Such a command — to work constantly — certainly sounds more modern. As college students, our academics creep into every aspect of our lives. I know personally that during each semester I feel a constant pressure to stay on top of and anticipate new assignments. The moments of reprieve from such pressure are few, but sweet. I take it that this is what the Judeo-Christian God intended with the Sabbath. Symbolically speaking, the ability to abstain from a day of all work is truly the ability to rest existentially. The college student who can take Sundays off is the one who does not allow academic anxiety to rule or control their behavior. In taking a Sabbath, they are symbolically saying that they find their identity elsewhere, apart from work as a student.

Rest, then, in a Biblical sense means tearing away the soul from anything it seeks to live for apart from God. In other words, the Sabbath is a reminder that we ought not derive our meaning and sense of self from what we do for a living or what test score we received last week. Rather, in taking a break from daily vocational rhythms and academic stresses, we are reminding ourselves to place our sense of worth in something greater, more satisfactory and important: God.

In a secular sense, this could mean enjoying time with family or spending the day in nature. Either way, I see the need for rest in myself and others. I have failed to implement this principle in my life, and I see the consequences: impaired sleep, a weak immune system, an emotional toll, etc. A lack of Sabbath rest touches every part of a person: physical, emotional, social and, I believe, spiritual. A failure to take Sabbath rest is essentially a failure to reallocate one’s self-worth and identity into something greater than what one does for work. The pressures of discovering happiness in and through what one does — grades, performance, etc. — are poisonous. We are only a couple months into the semester, and I have already contracted a serious cold because of a lack of sleep and rest.

I see the Sabbath as a great hope for me, and I hope for you as well. In our struggle to discover who we are as people, the Sabbath reminds us to look above and beyond what it is that lies in front of us at the moment and to breathe, take walks, read for pleasure and worship God. Such a reminder could not be more timely.

Scott Stinson is a UF English sophomore. His column appears on Wednesdays.