Naps
Word from Wiese
2 August 2023
What’s your opinion about naps?
As a young kid, I hated when my mom encouraged “rest time.” Who had time for sleeping when friends were waiting to play throughout the neighborhood?
In college and graduate school, again, I felt I was too busy for naps. Perhaps bordering on obsession regarding my GPA in addition to the super-fun extracurricular options of those years, I subscribed to the popular Bon Jovi song of the early 1990s, “Sleep When I’m Dead.” Periodic “all-nighters” were part of the package. Work hard, play hard, worry about sleep later.
But last year, I heard a Baptist pastor-colleague share that he’s reached a point in his ministry years in which he hits a wall mid-afternoon, in between a long day of ministry and evening meetings. His solution? Take a quick nap. 15 minutes or so. He shared that for a while he almost felt shame about allowing his mind and body to rest just a bit. But very quickly, he realized that the quick afternoon nap turbo-charged his overall productivity, not to mention the positivity he was able to bring to his relationships with family and parishioners alike.
While his nap recommendation made an impression, I wasn’t convinced enough to try.
But recent circumstances have me re-considering.
First, catching my eye was the Emory University Magazine’s summer edition, featuring an article entitled, “The Power of Naps” wherein the author makes the same case as my colleague: in days beginning before sunrise and ending well after supper, she was experiencing problems on both the work and family front. So, to the Emory University community (in addition to her 50k Twitter readers), she encourages the use of quick naps to enrich life on a variety of levels. I decided to vet her research and found from WebMD that “a short nap in the mid-afternoon can boost memory, improve job performance, lift your mood, make you more alert, and ease stress.”
Secondly, when on the Sea of Galilee on our Holy Land trip I was reminded of the story when Jesus himself took a nap in the middle of his ministry/work day. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell the story. (Luke 8:22–25; Matthew 8:23–27; Mark 4:36–41; John 6:16–21). If our Savior modeled taking breaks throughout the day, even nap-breaks, should I (and we) actually consider afresh how we steward our mind, spirits and attitudes throughout the day?
Thirdly, a few days into our Holy Land tour, many of the faith pilgrims fell asleep on the bus as we traveled between experiences. It was understandable; we rose early and packed our days with walking, talking, and intense reflection and interaction. While I usually loved talking with our guide at the front of our bus, co-planning the next stop, there was one day with a longer commute when I found myself waking up. I guess my body over-ruled my intention and took some required moments to chill out.
What do you think? Are you like me? Torn between an ethic of drive as hard as you can as long as you can, on one hand, and on the other, an invitation to consider how Jesus models busy and fruitful days, not to mention our medical communities, by taking a quick nap from time to time. Let me know what you think.
In Christ’s hope,
P Fritz
Let us pray:
Dear Lord, thanks for the gift of life with all its opportunities. Actively serving you. Quietly considering you. Activity and rest. Human being and human doing. Sabbath and striving. Guide us to steward well the bodies you’ve given us along with the opportunities you provide on so many levels. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
