While traveling last week, I had one of those classic double takes in a Tennessee gas station. I like to notice the hats people wear, trendy ballcaps seem to be having a moment, and a guy brushed past me with a hat that said, “Jesus Took Naps.”

I don’t have much context for the slogan, besides being in the Biblebelt, but I’m happy to offer my interpretation. I decode the headwear’s advertised phrase, “Jesus Took Naps,” as an invitation to rest.

Mark 6:30-32 describes the apostles of Jesus returning to him after being out on their own for a stint doing kingdom work. They gave their report, and interestingly, Jesus said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” They needed some recovery time from a grueling schedule as “many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.”

Jesus still invites us to “come away and rest a while.” When I was in the classroom, I’d often tell weary college students that sometimes the most spiritual thing they could do was take a nap. Needing rest, desiring a break, isn’t a sign of weakness or failure. Instead, it’s a reminder about our dependency upon God and the value of appropriate self-care. 

Do you need some rest? Perhaps see your sabbath time as an opportunity to sit and settle your body and spirit. See it as a time to contemplate how to draw nearer to God. Go ahead and drop into a deeper, quieter place to rest, hearing God beyond all the demands of life. Let others’ expectations and your inner compulsions grow silent as you pull back and distance yourself from the hurry.

God isn’t above messaging through trendy apparel. Perhaps atop a stranger’s head, God was giving me a subtle suggestion to come away and rest for a while. Maybe he’s sending you that message too.