When's Recess?
Ask kids about their favorite subject in school, and most likely you’ll get the response…RECESS! Usually, we roll our eyes and dismiss their response. “Recess isn’t a subject,” we’ll reply.
But maybe it should be. We often undervalue recess. In this educational culture that focuses on test scores, schools have been cutting recess, thinking that giving kids more time in the classroom to focus on core subjects will elevate test scores and accelerate learning.
Yet studies have shown that scheduling recess actually increases learning in kids. Regular breaks in the school day for unstructured play have been proven to improve kids’ social skills, physical health, academic and cognitive achievement, and classroom behavior!
Such a shortsighted conclusion isn’t just restricted to kids. It’s counterintuitive to the way we live as adults. We think…work harder, work longer, you’ll get more done, and you’ll be more successful, right?! Instead, having regular periods of rest and play actually increases creativity and productivity.
Recess is good for you! Who’da thunk it?
Actually…God did.
God's Example
Back in the creation account, we read…
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.
Genesis 2:1-2
Think about this for a minute. Adam and Eve were created on Day 6. And God gave them their first command. “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it” (vs. 28). Then comes day 7.
Now you would think God would say… “Okay, Adam and Eve…get to work! There’s a lot to be done! There are gardens to be tended. Animals to name. Food sources to discover.”
Instead, what did God do? …He rested.
Wait. What? He rested. It’s Adam and Eve’s first full day in this role God had given them, and instead of God saying… “Now, get to work!” He said… “Now, let’s rest!”
Why did He do that? Was it because He was tired? Was it a case of, “Wow. I’m bushed! 6 days of creating all this out of nothing…and I’m exhausted! Thank me it’s Friday!”
Not at all.
God didn’t rest on day 7 because HE needed it. He rested to set an example for us to imitate. He rested because WE need it.
He was so concerned that our penchant for productivity might get out of hand and that that would cost us dearly, that God set in motion a rhythm whereby a fruitful life might be sustained – a rhythm between work and rest.
Genesis 2:3 underscores just how important this day was to the Lord.
Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
Genesis 2:3
Holy Time
God blessed the seventh day and made it holy. The word literally means “to be set apart as special.”
Now…we normally think of this word in terms of holy things or holy people or holy places. But here the word isn’t used in reference to things, people, or places. It’s in reference to holy time.
The first time in the Bible that something is ever called “holy,” and it has to do with time. After six days of creating order out of chaos…after six days of fixing the world… there’s this special, set apart, indeed sacred, time to rest and reflect and rejoice. In the very beginning…this day of rest was established.
A Life-Giving Practice
While I’ve known for a long time that Scripture spoke of an intentional day of rest, I have to admit that I was slow to personally apply this. For one thing, I had all sorts of excuses as to why I needed to keep working non-stop. For another thing, I really didn’t know how to actualize a day of rest and renewal.
However, coming to grips with this has been revolutionary to both Gwen and me. And it’s been one of the most powerful truths that I share with pastors in my coaching .
Friends, I’m utterly convinced that as busy people, as compulsive “doers,” we need to freshly consider this. So much so that I’m going to be leaning into this topic in the next few posts. And in the process, I hope we’ll all come to see the value of recess.