Good News for the countryside: Everyone needs a good rest

​Have you heard this one? “100 farmers were asked what they do in their spare time. 95 didn’t understand the question!” Spare time? I remember my farmer dad cut a ‘whole week’ family holiday well short for fear the stand-in-milker wouldn’t manage!

Things have changed since then, at least a bit, but it’s good - and even vital - to get a holiday and get away from it all. Farmers need to stop too.

It is one thing to go away and yet quite another to rest and leave things behind. We can all too easily carry all our pressures and stresses with us. Try and talk to someone when things get overwhelming. I know it is easier said than done, but sharing things that bother us helps to put things in perspective.

Jesus had a lot to say about rest. Mind you, His wasn’t a carefree life! Consider the demands from the local community for His services as ‘the carpenter of Nazareth’, where folk probably wanted to get ‘things done yesterday’. That gave way to three years of hectic ministry.

Preaching, teaching, healing, and counselling, filled His days. Yet we don’t see Him being frazzled, or overwhelmed. He could see the control of His Father in everything. So, He could say to people who were weary, worried, and worn out, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29.)

Jesus uses a picture that most of us have forgotten in the farming world - the yoke. A contraption placed across the necks of two horses, or bullocks probably in Jesus’ day, where two pull together and so ease the load of the plough or the cart.

What an amazing picture He gives us: take my yoke…I will share the load with you! He draws near in our weariness and worries. That is a wonderful picture, and a truth, that I treasure as a Christian. When I know Jesus as my Saviour and trust Him, then I am sure that He never leaves me to carry the load alone. But Jesus also speaks in this verse of ‘rest for your souls’. So, what does that mean? It speaks about spiritual burdens.

Jesus saw people in His days on earth busily trying to ‘earn their way’ to acceptance with God. Trying to keep God’s laws but failing, and never knowing if they had done enough to earn that acceptance. Nothing has changed.

Jesus came to lift our burden of fear of death by His death on the cross, and also, He paid in full, the price of punishment our sin requires by taking the penalty of our sin for us. That’s grace - God’s love we don’t deserve. By turning to Him, humbly and sincerely, we can ask Jesus for ‘rest for our souls’ and then know freedom, as our burden is lifted.

‘Rest’ is such a lovely word, as it speaks forgiveness and a new beginning. So, enjoy that break, wherever you go, and I hope you enjoy a rest. But I pray you will also truly rest - in the fullest sense of that word - more than rest for your body and mind. He is in control of your life, your past, your present and your future, and you too can know the rest and freedom that He alone offers.

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Ian was brought up on a dairy farm near Limavady. He was a minister in Ballyroney and Drumlee congregations in south Down, and latterly Moneydig Presbyterian in County Londonderry. Due to a serious cancer diagnosis, Ian has had to retire from active ministry and now provides counselling and support to others with cancer.

If you would like to talk to someone about any of the issues raised in this article, please email Rev Kenny Hanna, PCI’s Rural Chaplain at [email protected] or call him on 07938 488 372.