How to Rest Well in a Busy Season: A Guide For Christians

It always happens this time of year. The pace of life begins to change. Just when the  rest of creation seems to slow down in the Northern Hemisphere, life starts ramping up. 

With travel to arrange, plans to make, work to finish, and gatherings to prepare for, the calendar starts to fill. Before long, the holidays are upon us. 

Rest can feel counterintuitive in a world where everything around us seems to be accelerating. We may even experience anxiety, guilt, or shame for slowing down when there is so much left to do.

In this blog, we’ll explore biblical rest and why rest matters for Christians. We’ll also take a peek at what Scripture teaches us about rest and offer simple practices that create a rhythm of rest during a busy season.

Why Is Rest Important for Christians?

For Christians, rest isn’t something we squeeze into our schedules when our work is finished. Rest is a command from God and an integral part of the way we are designed to live.

Christians are meant to be Sabbath-shaped people.

From the beginning, Scripture tells a story in which God works and then rests. This rhythm of work and rest is built into the life of God’s people, reminding us that rest is woven into the DNA of the world and part of the order God has given to creation.

Rest reminds us that we are creatures, not the Creator. 

We can rest in the knowledge that the world will continue turning while we sleep. God remains at work when we step away. The kingdom of God does not depend upon our ability to keep every plate spinning.

This is one of the many gifts of Biblical rest: it interrupts our illusion of control. Rest says, “I am not God. I do not have to carry the weight of the world.”

Examples of Rest in the Bible

When we look at the whole of the biblical narrative, we can get a fuller picture of what biblical rest looks like. Again and again, we see people who stop long enough to remember God, receive from God, and allow God to be God. 

Here are a few examples of rest in the Bible:

• God rests on the seventh day of creation (Genesis 2:2–3).
• Israel is given the Sabbath as a regular rhythm of stopping and remembering (Exodus 20:8–11).
• Jesus withdraws to pray, even when crowds are seeking him (Luke 5:15–16).
• Jesus invites his disciples to come away and rest: “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest” (Mark 6:31).
• Jesus rests in the middle of a storm, sleeping in the boat while the disciples are afraid (Mark 4:38).
• Hebrews calls us to enter God’s rest, reminding us that rest involves trusting God rather than continually striving in our own strength (Hebrews 4:9–11).

Jesus did not equate constant busyness and availability with faithfulness. Rest was part of the rhythm of his life with the Father. Even when there was plenty of work to be done!

Rest as an Act of Trust in the Lord

Rest requires trust. It can challenge how much we rely on our own efforts and abilities. Rest is an act of rebellion. It is a bold proclamation that we do not have to keep striving, producing, or holding everything together.

Choosing to rest is to say, “God, I trust that the world does not depend on me.”

This is why Christian rest is more than the recent self-care trend. Christian rest is centered on a relationship with the One who is able and holds all things in His hands. In this way, Biblical rest can become an act of worship.

When we rest, we practice believing that God’s love is not something we earn through productivity, but a gift freely given to receive.

Spiritual Rest vs Physical Rest

We all know what it feels like to need physical rest. Our bodies are finite, and we need sleep, quiet, nourishment, and time to recover.

But biblical rest goes deeper.

In Matthew 11:29, Jesus speaks of coming to him and finding rest for our souls. This is the kind of rest that can exist even in the middle of a busy and demanding season.

What does it mean to find rest for our souls? Jesus is pointing us toward a deeper kind of rest, a spiritual rest that goes beyond being physically still.  It means releasing our striving and the pressure to hold everything together or prove ourselves. It means allowing ourselves to be loved rather than constantly striving to become worthy of love.

Physical rest helps restore our bodies. Spiritual rest reorients our hearts and restores our souls.

Ways to Rest During a Busy Season

What might it look like to become a resting people in the midst of a busy season?

It probably won’t mean clearing your calendar completely or escaping to a cabin or remote beach until things slow down. Instead, we can begin creating small, intentional interruptions in the hurry.

Try these simple practices:

• Begin the day slowly. Before reaching for your phone, sit quietly with God for five minutes.
• Create a Sabbath rhythm. Choose a regular period each week when you intentionally stop producing and simply receive.
• Practice holy pauses. Create a holy pause, light a candle, take three deep breaths, pray, and become aware of God’s presence.
• Leave some things undone. Not every invitation needs a yes. Not every tradition needs to happen every year.
• Choose presence over productivity. When you’re with someone you love, resist the temptation to mentally race ahead to your next task.
• Make room for silence. Advent is a season of waiting. Silence gives our souls space to notice what noise can hide.
• Practice receiving instead of accomplishing. Ask yourself, what might God want to give me in this season?
• Practice breath prayer. Take a slow, deep breath. As you inhale, welcome God’s presence. As you exhale, release whatever distraction, worry, or to-do list is taking up space in your mind. Imagine placing those things in God’s hands and making room to simply be present with him.

These practices may seem small, but small practices repeated over time can create an entirely different daily rhythm as we move through a busy season.

How to Use Advent Rituals to Create a Rhythm of Rest During the Holidays

Advent invites us to slow down, pay attention, make room, and remember that God is present with us. It’s an interesting invitation at a time of year when there can be very little space left in our lives.

Maybe that is part of what makes Advent so meaningful (and so challenging).  It gives us an opportunity to practice a different way of moving through a busy season. 

Advent rituals can help us create moments of pause within the busyness. Light a candle on the Advent wreath and let the flame remind you to stop and be present. Read a few verses of Scripture slowly. Listen to an Advent hymn. 

Pray a simple prayer or sit in silence for a few minutes. One of my favorites is setting up my nativity scene gradually, allowing each piece to become a reminder that we are waiting and watching for Christ.

These rituals don’t have to become another thing to accomplish. Their purpose is to help us pay attention. They give us small, tangible ways to slow down and make room to receive rest.

Advent doesn’t ask us to make our lives empty. It invites us to find God in the middle of our full lives and to practice a different pace as we wait for Christ.

Explore Advent Rituals With Getting Still

Rest is at the heart of Getting Still. We believe that slowing down and “getting still” creates space to experience the peace of Christ and awaken to God’s presence. 

If you’re looking for a little help finding rest this season, our online sanctuary, The Yoga Abbey, includes a library of breath prayers, embodied practices, guided meditations, and devotionals to help you slow down and make space this season.  

These practices are meant to fit into real life, whether you have five minutes in the morning, a quiet moment in the afternoon, or time to settle in at the end of the day.

Frequently Asked Questions About Christian Rest

Why Is Rest Important for Christians?

Rest is part of the rhythm God established in creation and woven throughout Scripture. For Christians, rest is an opportunity to stop striving, trust God, and remember that our worth does not come from productivity.

What Does the Bible Say About Rest?

The Bible presents rest as both a gift and a practice. God rests at creation, Israel receives the Sabbath, and Jesus regularly withdraws to pray and invites his disciples to rest. Hebrews also speaks of entering God’s rest (Hebrews 4:9–11).

How Can I Find Time to Rest in My Busy Schedule?

Start small. Set aside a few quiet minutes each day, create a regular Sabbath rhythm, practice silence or prayer, and consider what you can leave undone. Rest doesn’t require an empty schedule; it requires making intentional space.

How Do I Rest as a Christian?

Christian rest involves more than physical relaxation. It means slowing down, becoming present to God, releasing the pressure to accomplish, and trusting God with what you cannot control.

What Does Spiritual Rest Look Like?

Spiritual rest is resting in God rather than striving to prove yourself or hold everything together. It can look like prayer, silence, Scripture, Sabbath, or simply becoming still and receiving God’s presence and love.