The post below is the third in a series of five posts on the topic, ‘How to Keep Your Heart Healthy.’ Written by Jeff Slaughter, Founder/Director of European Worship Institute.

Proverbs 4:23 says, ”Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it comes the issues of life.”

Everything starts with the heart: our words, our attitudes, and our actions. If our heart is hurt, unrepentant or sinful, then it will negatively affect what we say, what we think and what we do. So how do we keep our hearts healthy so that our words, attitudes and actions are life-giving, affirming and productive?

Healthy Heart Tip #3: Rest your heart
Practical: Your body and heart NEED sleep and rest. They can’t survive without it. In fact, your body will force itself to rest by shutting down in dangerous ways and places so it’s incumbent upon you to get enough sleep and rest to remain healthy.

Spiritually – it’s the same way: We have to turn off our 24/7 world so that we can ‘be still and know that He is God.

Recommendations:
1. Take some time off for inactivity
2. Unplug from e-mail, phone, text messages, facebook for a day.
3. Take time for ‘pleasureable’ activities that are:
a. Contemplative…recharging mentally
b. Recreational…recharging physically
c. Aesthetic….recharging emotionally
4. Consider what recharges you – introvert vs. extrovert?
5. Don’t necessarily count ‘family’ time as ‘sabbath’ time.
6. Honor micro and macro Sabbaths (one day per week, two weeks per year)

It’s true: To keep our heart healthy we must rest.

‘Contemplatio’ is our weekly worship devotional column. Inspired by the Latin word ‘Contemplatio’, which means means to ‘look at, gaze at or be aware of’; each week, we post a ‘Contemplatio’ designed to teach, inform or draw attention to a topic. Most posts are written by Jeff Slaughter, founder and director of the European Worship Institute, and members of the EWI teaching team. Ideas for guest posts are welcome and may be submitted to Jeff at: [email protected]