Wednesday, 18 September 2024

R E S T

 

R E S T

‘Rest is defined as : leisure, ease, inactivity, relaxation, repose, respite, time off, breathing-space, interval, vacation, etc.

It is necessary not only for human beings, animals and birds but also for tools, instruments, machines, engines, technical gadgets, etc.

Denial of rest causes fatigue, illness, disorder, restlessness, stoppage, breakage, dissolution, etc.

Unused objects get rusted; they shine in use; but become unsafe if over-used without rest and relaxation.

Greek philosopher and historian (Born 1st Century CE) said: Rest is the sweet sauce of labour.”

According to the English divine  F.W.Robertson (1816-53): True rest is not that of torpor, but that of harmony; it is not refusing the struggle, but conquering in it; not resting from duty, but finding rest in it.

   Scottish novelist George Macdonald (1824-1905) has this to say: “Certainly work is not always required of a man. There is such a thing as a sacred idleness----the cultivation of which is now fearfully neglected.”

Finally, look at the following lines from the poem Leisure written by the  Welsh poet W.H.Davies (1871-1940):

“What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare……

No time to see, in broad daylight,

Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,

And watch her feet, how they can dance.

 

Davies ends his poem with the following lines:

“A poor life this if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

                 *************

G.R.kanwal

18 September 2024                     

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