The Pursuit of Holy Leisure: Enjoying God in Everyday Places
This post was written by Cara Ray, the author of one of our releases, The Pursuit of Holy Leisure. If you enjoy what you read, you can get your copy today:
One of the first things many believers are taught when they become Christians is to develop a daily quiet time. This is a dedicated time where we meet with God by reading His Word and praying. We’re encouraged to tune out the world and tune into the Word, listening to His voice and growing in our love for Him. It’s a critical component to our spiritual growth and joy. How can we get to know the Lord if we don’t set aside the time to meet with Him?
But for many Christians, a quiet time can feel like a box to check off their daily to-do list. Like brushing their teeth or combing their hair—it’s something they do, but not something that moves, changes, or transforms them. For others, their ability (or inability) to consistently make time for the Lord is a constant source of pride or guilt. Depending on their track record, they may sense the need to “try harder,” or they may feel that God is always slightly disappointed in them for their lack of discipline.
Cara Ray knows these feelings of guilt and failure well. For many years, she struggled to enjoy reading God’s Word for herself. She loved the Lord and reading books about the Bible, but was intimidated by God’s Word and often lacked the enthusiasm to open its pages. She thought of her quiet time as an exercise of her will. It was like lifting weights or eating broccoli: it wasn’t something she always enjoyed, but it was good for her and would yield good rewards if she stuck with it.
Then, one day, she read about otium sanctum, or holy leisure. Holy leisure was a practice described by early church fathers as the enjoyment of God and the appreciation of His goodness, truth, and beauty. Holy leisure wasn’t laziness, the way we might think of leisure today, but a mindset that required intentional, disciplined pursuit. It was a kind of leisure or rest worth whatever effort it took to obtain. In essence, holy leisure is a posture of delighting in God that shapes how we approach him in Scripture, prayer, and in the everyday moments of life. It sounded similar to David’s pursuit of “one thing,” in Psalm 27:4. He said, “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.”
Applying the concept of holy leisure to her quiet times instantly changed how Cara approached God’s Word. Instead of checking a daily box that she had her quiet time, her time with the Lord became a pursuit of beholding his goodness, truth, and beauty. Holy leisure was the means by which she approached the Word, and it was also the result. This discovery reshaped not only how she opened her Bible each morning, but how she began to experience God in every area of her life—and this is the transformation she invites readers to experience as well.
If you like what you’ve read so far, you can order your copy of Cara Ray’s The Pursuit of Holy Leisure, at this link:
The Pursuit of Holy Leisure explores how believers can begin to experience the same enjoyment of God in every area of their lives. This book is divided into four parts:
● Part One explore the hidden places of our hearts and consider who we are in Christ, the bedrock upon which we can enjoy fellowship with God and His Word.
● Part Two examines how holy leisure impacts our familiar places where we interact with family, work, community, and creativity.
● Part Three looks at the hard places of life and how holy leisure prepares us for trials and temptations when they come.
● Part Four considers how holy leisure prepares us for a life of fruitfulness and blessing.
The Christian life was never meant to be reduced to a checklist. This book invites you to ditch your quiet-time checkbox for a holy leisure mindset instead. As you journey through these pages, Cara will guide you to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and inquire in his temple. There, in His presence, you’ll find the one thing worth pursuing above all else. In Him, you’ll discover the true rest and joy your soul was made for—the very heart of holy leisure.