Holistic Leisure For Pastors And Workers

Believe it, as one of life’s major forces, leisure contributes significantly to the improvement of quality of life and the well being. It is through leisure that growth, renewal, reflection and an exploration of the self, as well as many other benefits, is possible¹. Conversely, however, many persons, including ministers, are struggling with leisure each minute of time. Even Jesus and His disciples had to find means to keep it fixed (Mark 6:31). In fact the truth is that we are so “troubled about many things” (Luke 10:41) that we skip over or steal leisure to be busier. How can we operationalize this life’s enriching vital-force in our pressurized time management?

Some definitions of leisure

To many people, getting out of desk to take a snack or stretch is leisure. Or picking a parcel from the post just to come back to finish work is one piece of leisure moment. Not really. Leisure goes beyond that. Leisure is a natural free time you get within your busy schedules of work. Primarily, leisure motivates an abstemious attitude towards work and self.

Leisure is free time. This is a simple definition for leisure but there is something more to it. Bernard Shaw observed it as a “free activity” other than “free time.” He wrote, “Leisure may be defined as free activity, labor as compulsory activity. Leisure does what it likes, labor does what it must, the compulsion being that of nature, which in these latitudes leaves men no choice between labor and starvation.”² Leisure is meant to be free from doing work. Not necessarily doing nothing but you are out of your normal work schedule to relax your mind and body.

Leisure is a choice to desist from a compulsory task. Work demands our time but leisure demands our free will, a choice to make it real. In her counsel to the physicians at Battle Creek sanitarium, Ellen White wrote, “Dr. B. has been confined too steadily to the Institute. He should have had change. He should go out of Battle Creek occasionally and rest and visit, not always making professional visits, but visiting where he can be free and where his mind will not be anxious about the sick.”³ Finding peace out of a compulsory activity must underline our attitude towards work and self.

Leisure is meant for stress-free activities. When you have leisure, you should do an interested optional activity, something that relaxes and makes you happy or eases tension. Maybe you would like to go swimming or an open square to observe nature. It may be a book you are reading for the month. Any activity that will make you cool down the thermic of stress is soul enriching.

Leisure is for revival. C. Neil Strait observed that “life lived amidst tension and busyness needs leisure. Leisure that recreates and renews. Leisure should be a time to think new thoughts, not ponder old ills.” Hence Ellen White suggests this piece of advice, “…when you have an hour of leisure, open the Bible and store the mind with its precious truths.”⁴ Finding peace with God is by beholding the beauty of His Word. God’s Word is so powerful to calm down every tension in the soul.

The UN saw leisure as an affective power and thus declared in 1948 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 24, that, “Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.”⁵ In three simple categories John Neulinger (ed) in his book The Psychology of Leisure, defines leisure as (1) The experience of the mind (2) It must be entered into voluntarily (3) It must be intrinsically motivating of its own merit.

Looking at the dramatic overlap in time management, even in our post technological age where work is done by a click, talking about leisure must surely affect our thinking. “It needs leisure to think things out; it needs leisure to mature. People in a hurry cannot think, cannot grow, nor can they decay. They are preserved in a state of perpetual puerility.”⁶ That’s a very fat fact.

Leisure and well-being

Leisure pays off on our wellness. Maintaining a continuing leisure activity is an important part of advancing your health. Many organizations like the Canadian Association for Leisure Studies (CALS), Lifestyle Information Network (LIN), Australian and New Zealand Association for Leisure Studies (ANZALS), including World Leisure Organization (WLO), a world-wide, non-governmental association of persons and organizations, dating from 1952, have been “dedicated to discovering and fostering those conditions best permitting leisure to serve as a force for human growth, development and well-being.”⁷ Thus, “[t]he majority of research on leisure…has focused on its role in enhancing various aspects of well-being. Much of this research, using both quantitative and qualitative paradigms, … demonstrates that engagement in life through participation in various leisure activities promotes positive outcomes and contributes to enhanced physical, cognitive, emotional and psychological, and social well-being…”⁸

For the sake of our learning, let’s look at how leisure benefits in these four areas of human self-actualization: psychologically, physically, socially, and spiritually.

Psychological wellbeing

The sense of seeing yourself happy and content in life is psychological wellbeing. Many of our ill-fated bodies are as a result of what we see through our mind. Leo R. Van Dolson describes this in a beautiful introduction in his topic, Who Stares Back At You From Your Mental Mirror? He writes, “Whom do you see when you look into the mirror of your mind? The person who stares back at you is the one who determines your self-image and makes you what you are. And, to a large extent, the person you see is the one you have been conditioned to see. Probably much more than you think it does, your self-image (or lack of it) contributes to your ability to handle stressful situations.”⁹

Our engagement in leisure activity is a key to overcoming psychological stress. It is believed that, “The frequency of participation and the number or range of activities participated in (i.e., leisure repertoire or leisure diversity) show stronger relationships with most psychological well-being measures than the amount of time spent participating in activities.”¹⁰
As said by Dr. Laurence J. Peter, “The picture of health requires a happy frame of mind”, in fact, if we can purposefully make leisure a moment for reflection, rethinking and innovation, it can keep our minds up fit for a good sense of life. You must understand that to have a psychological balance is a choice other than spontaneity. Therefore, dealing with self needs to be constructive and purposeful.

Physical well-being

A very significant area that leisure activity pays off is its promotion of physical wellness. Sherry Dupuis and Murray Alzheimer believe that “the impacts of physically active pursuit, including exercise and fitness, have been examined the most extensively.”¹¹ In a broader sense, physical wellness may be seen as “the optimal functioning of the body in all of its daily activities. A high level of physical fitness goes beyond being simply active during the day – it also includes a regular and effective exercise program. If you are physically fit, you can perform your everyday tasks and still have abundant reserve energy left to meet other physical hobbies, and other leisure pursuits. Also, being fit allows you to have ample energy to meet most unexpected emergencies and crisis situations whenever they occur.”¹² And this actually is when leisure activity pays off.

Leisure activity is meant to lift us from too much sedentary life to a participatory state where we can move to revitalize energy and happiness. Seiger and Richter have stated: “We are designed to move – if we sit or lie down too long, our bodies begin to feel sluggish and lazy.”¹³

Social well being

Our social life can be seen in three categories. That is:
1. Networking: The people you know and share in different levels of relationships in the community.
2. Interacting: Having a reciprocal relationship with the community.
3. Connecting: Providing a continuing link in networking and interaction in the community, i.e. creation and maintenance of relationships.

These may be well understood by Corey L. M. Keyes’ (department of Sociology, Emory University, Atlanta) five dimensions or measures of social well-being:

1. Social integration – feeling that one has something in common with others and the feeling of belonging to one’s community and society;
2. Social acceptance – the capacity for trusting others, believing others are capable of kindness and industriousness, holding a favorable view of human nature, and feeling comfortable with others;
3. Social contribution – a strong sense of social value, believing that one is a vital member of society and contributes in valuable ways to the world;
4. Social actualization – an understanding that society is continually evolving, being hopeful about the condition and future of society, and recognizing society’s potential; and
5. Social coherence – having a concern about the world and a strong desire to make sense of the world¹⁴.

When we fail to see ourselves through Keyes’ five dimensions of social well being, then we are living a solitary life. A solitary life begins when we see ourselves cut off from other people. When we become loners, it endangers life to trouble and ills. An active outdoor recreation with family members, friends and other people helps to operationalize how we thrive with life in the society. It is only through leisure that involves others that we can achieve a proper social well-being.

Spiritual well being

Spiritual health is not physical antithesis rather “physical, mental and spiritual health are deeply intertwined and have a profound effect on one another.”¹⁵ Spiritual health is the peace of mind we get from God. It’s a life that can feel the presence and essence of the Spirit in relation to the moral life. It may be seen as a life free from the dross of earthly distractions.

An in-depth interview and sample were organized on “the processes that link leisure with spiritual well-being.”¹⁶ According to the findings as led by Paul Heintzman, of the University of Ottawa, “There was almost unanimous agreement by the participants that they considered the activities or experiences which enhanced their spiritual well-being to be leisure.” And that “busyness in life detracted from spiritual well-being.”

Further, respondents mentioned that “outdoors or nature” was conducive to their spiritual well-being in that, nature “elicited a sense of wonder and awe” and moreover “helped them connect with their God.” Again, the repression of time crunch affects personal spiritual development. However, “leisure is used to sensitize or resensitize one to the spiritual and therefore a balanced openness or pursuit of spiritual development.”¹⁷

When we have leisure and enjoy it to the fullness, it lifts our spirits to behold the beauty and meaning of life. It is true that when we are spiritually balanced, we can navigate ourselves through the presence of the numerous uncertainties in this life.

…and the pastor

A recent research by Life Way Research¹⁸ shows that pastors are severely overworked¹⁹. By popular notion, our effectiveness as pastors are rated by the amount of hours we put in before others like regular visitation, revivals, public campaigns, fulfilling conference appointments, etc. These are what the conference and our congregation want to see in a five star minister.

It is also believed that, pastors’ families experience rejection and loneliness as a result of the numerous tasks and responsibilities the ministry demands on them. “Outside the bright lights of the pulpit, faithful pastors engage in a multitude of activities: from counseling to youth ministries to administration to evangelism to church school, and more. If one could count the hours that pastors invest in ministry, one could clearly see that pastors have time for everyone except their families. Pastors have even less time for themselves and their spiritual nourishment and physical maintenance.”²⁰ If there is any joy to share, it’s about the progress in the church. And if there is any grief, it’s about the death or tragedy of a church member. A pastor’s home is full of the burden of the church more than his own home.

Because of this pressure in the ministry, many pastors’ homes are torn apart into factions of disruptions and a chronic longing for attention. It is therefore important for pastors to take stringent measures towards a commitment to enjoying a good leisure that involves the entire family.

1. Pastors should design their own constant leisure activities throughout the week
2. Pastors should take a one-day off with their family to leisure resort
3. If possible, pastors must take short holidays with their family away from their parish
4. Pastors should avoid too much pressure on the use of time
5. Pastors should attend to their families when they need them

Conclusion

Leisure is a piece of time to remedy us from too much sedentary and the curses of stress. Ellen White advises that, “An outdoor life amid natural surroundings would work wonders for many a helpless and almost hopeless invalid.”²¹ She continued by saying “Nature is God’s physician. The pure air, the glad sunshine, the flowers and trees, the orchards and vineyards, and outdoor exercise amid these surroundings, are health-giving, life-giving.”²² For the sake of the ministry and the pastors’ own wellness, the value of leisure must be seen as a potential relief.

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Clifford Owusu-Gyamfi

Pastor

I am a systematic theologian from Ghana who lives in Switzerland and the pastor designate for Geneva International Seventh-day Adventist Church.

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