{"id":197,"date":"2012-05-18T05:23:39","date_gmt":"2012-05-18T03:23:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/?p=197"},"modified":"2014-11-26T14:53:40","modified_gmt":"2014-11-26T12:53:40","slug":"rhythms-of-work-and-rest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/?p=197","title":{"rendered":"RHYTHMS of WORK and REST"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rhythms of Work and Rest<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Hierdie artikel is geskryf met die oog op geestelike leiers. Die waarhede is op ons almal van toepassing. Ons is almal of behoort almal geestelike leiers te wees. Lees dit tot die einde. Dit is deurleefde wysheid.)<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are blessed with inner rhythms that tell us where we are, and where we are going. No matter, then, our fifty and sixty hour work weeks, the refusing to stop for lunch, the bypassing sleep and working deep into the darkness. If we stop, if we return to rest, our natural state reasserts itself. Our natural wisdom and balance come to our aid, and we can find our way to what is good, necessary and true.\u201d<\/em>\u2014Wayne Muller<\/p>\n

I remember sitting in a staff meeting once at a church I was serving; the purpose of the meeting was to talk about how we could attract more people to join the church. At one point someone counted the requirements for church membership already in place and made the startling discovery that there were at least five time commitments per week required of those who wanted to become church members!<\/p>\n

Outwardly I tried to be supportive of the purpose for the meeting, but on the inside I was screaming, Who would want to sign up for this? I was already trying to combat CFS (Christian fatigue syndrome) in my own life and couldn\u2019t imagine willingly inflicting it on someone else. How is it, I wondered, that life in and around the church often gets reduced to so much activity, so much busyness, such weighty expectations?<\/p>\n

One of the main reasons life in and around the church is full of so much activity, so much busyness and such weighty expectations is that that is the way its leaders are living. Most of us only know one speed: full steam ahead. And we have been stuck in that speed for a very long time.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0If we do not establish saner rhythms in our own lives\u2014life patterns that curb our unbridled activism and calm our compulsive busy-ness\u2014we will not make it over the long haul and neither will the people we are leading.<\/p>\n

Worn out by our passion<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jesus seemed to understand how quickly our passions, even the most noble, can wear us out if we\u2019re not careful. Early in his ministry with the disciples, he began to teach them about the importance of establishing sane rhythms of work and rest. In Mark 6, Jesus had just commissioned the disciples for ministry and had given them the authority to cast out demons, to preach the Gospel and to heal the sick. They went off on their first ministry excursion and returned all excited about their new-found powers and crowded around Jesus to report in on all they had done and taught.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0Jesus didn\u2019t have much time for their ministry reports<\/em>. Immediately he instructed them \u201cto come away with me and rest awhile.\u201d He seemed to be much more concerned about helping them to establish rhythms that would sustain them in ministry rather than allowing them to be overly enamoured by ministry successes or inordinately driven by their compulsions to do more.<\/p>\n

Rhythms of work and rest<\/strong><\/p>\n

When we keep pushing forward without taking adequate time for rest and replenishment, our way of life may seem heroic but there is frenetic quality to our work that lacks true effectiveness because we have lost the ability to be present to God, to be present to other people and to discern what is really needed in our situation. The result can be \u201csloppy desperation\u201d: a mental and spiritual lethargy that prevents us from the quality of presence that delivers true insight and spiritual leadership.<\/p>\n

Charles, a gifted physician illustrates the point: \u201cI discovered in medical school that if I saw a patient when I was tired or overworked, I would order a lot of tests. I was so exhausted; I couldn\u2019t tell exactly what was going on \u2026so I got in the habit of ordering a battery of tests, hoping they would tell me what I was missing. But when I was rested\u2014if I had the opportunity to get some sleep, or go for a quiet walk\u2014when I saw the next patient, I could rely on my intuition and experience to give me a pretty accurate reading of what was happening\u2026when I could take the time to listen and be present with them and their illness, I was almost always right.\u201d<\/p>\n

When we are depleted, we become overly reliant on voices outside of ourselves to tell us what is going on. We react to symptoms rather than seeking to understand and respond to underlying causes. We rely on other people\u2019s ministry models and outside consultants because we are too tired to listen in our setting and craft something that is uniquely suited to meet the needs that are there. BUT when we are rested we bring steady, alert attention to our leadership that is characterized by right discernment about what is truly needed in our situation, and we have the energy and creativity to carry it out!<\/p>\n

Part 2: Solitude and Community<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cLet him who cannot be alone beware of community. He will only do harm to himself and to the community\u2026But the reverse is also true: let him who is not in community beware of being alone.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

Dietrich Bonhoeffer<\/p>\n

In this paradoxical statement from his book Life Together, <\/em>German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer articulates one of the most important spiritual rhythms for all Christians but especially for those of us who are leaders\u2014the rhythm of solitude and community.<\/p>\n

What Bonhoeffer seems to be saying is that if we do not take time regularly to enter into solitude and receive God\u2019s unconditional love as the constant source of our identity, calling, and belonging, we become dangerous in the human community. <\/em>Why? Because we will attempt to get from other human beings what only God can provide; we will demand that the community meet our needs for love, approval, a sense of self and whatever else we may be missing. Then when the community disappoints us, is unable to meet our needs or refuses our demands, we may become frustrated and take out our frustration on those around us through gossip, manipulation, attempts at controlling others.\u00a0 We may accuse the community of failing us and may even start projecting our inner lacks onto others in the community\u2014blaming them for not meeting needs that are not theirs to meet anyway.<\/p>\n

The problem, of course, is that the community can never fully meet the needs that can only be met by a rich and satisfying relationship with God. It is a weight that is too heavy for any community to bear. And when the shepherds do not spend time in solitude receiving their soul\u2019s nourishment from God, they may start to feed on the sheep\u2014the very flock they are supposed to be caring for.\u00a0 The result is pastors and leaders who are trying to get basic human needs for identity, approval and belonging met in the community<\/em> rather than seeking to have these needs met in relationship with God.<\/p>\n

To make matters even more complicated, our deepest unmet needs are often unconscious as are our patterns for trying to get other human beings to meet them. If these real human needs continue to remain unmet (as they ultimately will because they can never be fully met in any human relationship), spiritual starvation sets in and the shepherd eventually begins to devour the sheep.<\/p>\n

A Little Desperation Goes a Long Way <\/strong><\/p>\n

Solitude is a key discipline for all those who seek after God; however, a leader\u2019s journey into solitude and silence has its own unique challenges. One of the great and very subtle temptations relative to life in leadership is that the activities and experiences associated with leadership can be very addicting.\u00a0 The idea that I can do <\/em>something about this, that, or the other thing feeds something in us that is voracious in its appetite.\u00a0 That something is the ego or the false self that, over time, identifies itself and shores itself up with external accomplishments and achievements, roles and titles, power and prestige.\u00a0 Leadership roles, by their very nature, give a lot of fodder for the ego. To remove ourselves, even for a time, from the very arena where we are receiving so much of our identity can be difficult, if not impossible, for leaders no matter how much mental assent we give to the whole idea.<\/p>\n

Many leaders preach solitude better than they practice it and I suspect this may be the nut of it.\u00a0 Leaders are busy, yes, and solitude necessitates that we pull away from the demands of our lives in ministry, which is never easy and involves many logistical challenges.\u00a0 But I think the real reason we resist actually moving into a more substantive experience of solitude may have more to do with the anxiety that comes as we pull away from that which we have allowed to define us externally.\u00a0 Usually we\u2019re not willing to let go of all that unless we are desperate\u2014as Elijah was when he went into the wilderness,\u00a0 as Moses was when we he fled to Midian, and as Paul was when he got knocked off his horse and sat in utter stillness for three days.\u00a0 If you\u2019re feeling a little desperate, let it keep coming until it drives you into the wilderness of your own solitude\u2014a very fruitful place for a leader to be.<\/p>\n

And of course, the point of going into solitude is to return to our life in the company of others with something to give from the fullness of what we have received rather than coming to others from a place of emptiness demanding that they fill up what is lacking.<\/p>\n

The Rhythm of Ministry <\/strong><\/p>\n

Henri Nouwen has said, \u201cIn order to be of service to others, we have to die to them.\u201d\u00a0 I think Bonheoffer\u2019s comments shed light on what Nouwen means.\u00a0 We must die to needing those we serve in order to survive. <\/em>We can love the sheep and serve them and be committed to them; we can be vulnerable with them and receive from them the gifts that God has given them.\u00a0\u00a0 But our ability to survive<\/em> and to have our (very legitimate) human needs for identity, calling, approval, belonging and worth met<\/em> must come from the richness of our own intimacy with God cultivated in a balanced rhythm of solitude and community.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach by itself (solitude and community) has profound pitfalls and perils,\u201d Bonhoeffer goes on to say.\u00a0 \u201cOne who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feeling, and one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation and despair.\u201d The beauty and effectiveness of solitude and community is not in either one alone but in the rhythm between the two.\u00a0 Let him who cannot be alone beware of community\u2026let him who is not in community beware of being alone. <\/em><\/p>\n

Part 3: Silence and Word, Stillness and Action<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cRight speech comes out of silence, and right silence comes out of speech. One does not exist without the other.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Dietrich Bonhoeffer<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know about you but there are times when I can literally feel it\u2014deep in my bones\u2014that if I do not shut my mouth for a while, I will get myself in trouble.\u00a0 This trouble will come either because I am tired and lacking in the energy to be disciplined in my use of words or because I haven\u2019t been quiet enough in God\u2019s presence for my words to be connected with any sense of what God is saying in the moment. There are times\u2014especially when I am in the middle of speaking five times in a row or have been with people way too much\u2014that I feel like crying out, \u201cSomebody please stop me!\u201d<\/p>\n

The Scriptures describe the futility of undisciplined human verbosity by pointing out that \u201cin the multitude of words there is much transgression.\u201d \u00a0(Proverbs 10:19) This is a truth that could drive us ministry folks to despair given the incessant flow of words from our mouths, pens and computers. Those of us who deal in words are at great risk of misusing words and even sinning with our words due to the sheer volume of them!<\/p>\n

Practicing Restraint<\/strong><\/p>\n

The rhythm of silence and word is the only cure for this desperate situation. In silence our speech patterns are refined because silence fosters self-awareness that enables us to choose more truly the words that we say. Rather than speech that is motivated by our subconscious need to impress, to put others in their place, to compete, to control, to manipulate, to put a good spin on things\u2026we are able to notice our inner dynamics and make choices that are more grounded in love, trust and God-given wisdom.\u00a0 As Bonhoeffer puts it, \u201cThere is a wonderful power of clarification, purification, and concentration upon the essential thing in being quiet\u2026Much that is unnecessary remains unsaid.\u00a0 But the essential and the helpful thing can be said in a few words.\u201d<\/p>\n

Silence gives us a way to practice restraint when everything in us screams to fly off the handle.\u00a0 The Psalmist says, \u201cWhen you are disturbed, do not sin; ponder it on your bed and be silent. Offer right sacrifices (in other words, stay faithful to your spiritual practices) and put your trust in the Lord.\u201d\u00a0(Psalm 4:4)\u00a0\u00a0These are times when the most heroic thing a leader can do is to remain in that private place with God for as long as it takes to keep from sinning. In this place we consciously trust ourselves to God rather than everything else we could be doing in the moment.<\/p>\n

Waiting for God to Act <\/strong><\/p>\n

Practicing rhythms of silence and stillness help us learn to wait on God\u2014which doesn\u2019t come easily for those of us who are so busy trying to make things happen. A major discipline of leadership is to learn how to wait and recognize God\u2019s direction in our lives and in our world before taking action ourselves. Moses learned this lesson so well in his forty year experience in the wilderness that when the challenges of leadership came fast and hard, his first response was to be still and wait until he recognized God\u2019s way forward even in the midst of danger and uncontrolled panic.<\/p>\n

In Exodus 14, the Israelites found themselves trapped between the Red Sea that was in front of them and the Egyptians who were pursuing from behind; Moses\u2019 ability to take decisive action in this impossible situation emerged from a clear sense of what he had heard from God. Through Moses, God instructed the Israelites to move forward as Moses lifted his staff and stretched out his hand over the water so that the water would divide. It was the exactly the right thing to do but it was something none of them would have thought up on their own.\u00a0 If Moses had not practiced orienting himself to God\u2019s voice speaking deep within and had not been disciplined enough to wait on taking action until God\u2019s guidance was clear, there would have been a completely different outcome.<\/p>\n

Staying in Rhythm<\/strong><\/p>\n

The key to the efficacy of the rhythm of silence and word, stillness and action, is holding them together in a beautiful tension.\u00a0 If we pray and never do anything, God\u2019s will will never actually be done. If we keep doing <\/em>things but shun silence and stillness, chances are our actions will be less than what is really needed.\u00a0 This is polarity management and it leads us to embrace yet another great paradox of leadership: the more we are called upon to use words, the more silence we need.\u00a0 The more active leadership required of us and the greater the need for decisive action, the more we need to cultivate stillness<\/strong>\u2014the capacity to wait on God long enough to receive God\u2019s clear direction for whatever is facing us. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still. <\/em>And then out of the stillness, you get up and do whatever God tells you to do.<\/p>\n

Part 4: Self-Knowledge and Self-Examination<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cA leader is a person who must take special responsibility for what\u2019s going on inside his or her consciousness, lest the act of leadership create more harm than good.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Parker Palmer<\/p>\n

A natural outcome of time spent in the safety of God\u2019s presence is that we come home to ourselves in God\u2019s presence. We are able to engage in a rhythm of celebrating the goodness of ourselves as God has created us as well as<\/em> inviting him to show us those places where we are still living in bondage to sin and negative patterns.<\/p>\n

One of the most significant outcomes of Moses\u2019 forty years in the wilderness was his ability to settle down, to name himself more truly in God\u2019s presence and to allow God to release him from old patterns so that his leadership could be a force for good in the world.\u00a0 In a remarkable journey of transformation, Moses\u2019 ability to name the unresolved inner dynamics that had shaped him (\u201cI have been an alien in a foreign land\u201d) created space for God\u2019s transforming work in his life.<\/p>\n

After sinning spectacularly, he settled into a more solitary existence far outside the public view and began to change\u2014from being an angry young man who gave in to murderous rages to being a leader who could work for justice in ways that were truly helpful. He started small\u2014coming to the defence of some shepherd girls who were being threatened by unruly shepherds\u2014but this time he was able to help without killing anyone. \u00a0A real improvement any way you look at it! \u00a0Eventually, he was ready to be entrusted with God\u2019s ultimate calling upon his life.<\/p>\n

Search me, O God, and Know My Heart<\/strong><\/p>\n

Without the regular experience of being received and loved by God in solitude and silence and\u00a0 experiencing the deep rest of God that is available to us in that place, we are vulnerable to a kind of leadership that is driven by profound emptiness we are seeking to fill through performance, achievement, and powering up on our world. This unconscious striving is very dangerous for us and for those around us; it will eventually burn us out since there is no amount of achievement that will ultimately satisfy the emptiness of the human soul. And the people we work with will eventually notice that they are mere cogs in the wheel of our own ego-driven plans.<\/p>\n

It takes profound willingness to invite God to search us and know us at the deepest levels of our being, allowing him to show us the difference between the driven-ness of the false<\/em> self and the deeper calling to lead from our authentic self<\/em> in God. There is an elemental chaos that gets stirred up when we have been in God\u2019s presence enough that we have allowed pretence and performance and every other thing that has bolstered our sense of self to fall away.\u00a0 In solitude we are stripped of our external distractions and we inevitably become aware of false patterns of thinking and being and doing that have lurked unnoticed under the surface busyness of our lives.<\/p>\n

We may even begin to see how these patterns have mis-shaped our leadership.\u00a0 Perhaps we glimpse an ego-driven self that is bent on control and image management.\u00a0 Perhaps we see an empty self that is hungry to fill itself with the approval of others. Perhaps we glimpse a broken self, desperately seeking to preserve the illusion that we have it all together.\u00a0 Or maybe we see a wounded self that has spent untold energy seeking healing where healing cannot be found.<\/p>\n

When I Want to Do Good<\/strong><\/p>\n

All of us have a shadow side to our leadership. We start out with a desire to do good things and to make a difference but as Paul confesses, \u201cWhen I want to do good, evil is close at hand.\u201d\u00a0 (Romans 7:21) Our personal insecurities, our anger, our feelings of inferiority, our need for approval and applause\u2014which can actually work for<\/em> us early on\u2014are often the very same issues that can precipitate our failure if left unattended. The raw gift of leadership might be there (as it certainly was for Moses) along with a strong sense of what\u2019s right and what we think needs to be done in this world. But it cannot be a force for good if it is not being refined by the rigors of self-examination in which we invite God to search us and know us, to help us to know ourselves and to lead us in a more life-giving way.<\/p>\n

Psalm 139 describes a healthy rhythm of self-knowledge and self-examination that is essential for our lives in leadership.\u00a0 Self-knowledge begins with waking up to the presence of God and the truth that we are forever secure in God\u2019s love. It rests on the foundation of being utterly convinced that there is nothing we can do that can cause us to fall out of that love. (Vs. 1-12)<\/p>\n

Healthy self-examination includes the ability to receive and celebrate the goodness of who we are as created beings. (Vs. 13-18) This includes the ability to celebrate the uniqueness of our bodies, our personalities, the configuration of our soul and its unique way of relating to God and the world, our heritage, our background, and all of the experiences that make us who we are. This kind of acceptance and celebration is not as easy as it sounds and some of us have significant work to do in learning how to celebrate the goodness of our created selves as the Psalmist does here!<\/p>\n

The culmination of a healthy self-examination process is to bring our whole selves to God\u2014the good, the bad, and the ugly\u2014and to invite God to go with us in the search to \u201csee if there is any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.\u201d (Vs. 19-24)<\/p>\n

Leading from Your Authentic Self<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is impossible to overstate how dangerous we as leaders can be when we have not established a rhythm of self-knowledge and self-examination\u2014regular moments when we invite the healing love of God to expose that which is good and that which is false within us, allowing God to touch us in the unexamined, broken places of our hearts and lives.<\/p>\n

The journey beyond our false-self<\/em> patterns <\/em>to living and leading from our authentic self<\/em> in God<\/em> is a harrowing one that is paved with truth-seeing and truth-telling.\u00a0 But it is eminently worth it because the truth will ultimately set us free to lead from our authentic self, compelled by the truer motivations that God placed within us before the foundation of the earth.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

Part 5: Discerning and Doing the Will of God<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cDecision making has its limits. We make decisions. Discernment is given. The Spirit of God, which operates at the deepest levels of the human psyche and within the mysteries of the faith community, brings to the surface gifts of wisdom and guidance which we can only discover and name.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Danny Morris and Chuck Olsen<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At this point in our exploration of the spiritual rhythms in the life of the leader you might be wondering, how does the work of ministry get done?\u00a0 The work of ministry gets done as we experience deeper levels of spiritual transformation which enables us to discern and do the will of God.<\/p>\n

Beyond the chaos that is created by facing ourselves more honestly in God\u2019s presence and letting that which is false within us fall away, quietness descends that is pregnant with the presence of God. Over time, as we cultivate disciplines of rest, solitude, silence and self-examination, we find we are brought back from the brink of dangerous exhaustion to a state of quiet alertness that is able and ready to receive guidance from God. A knowing comes, a still, small voice whispers, a gentle blowing of the Spirit can be felt and we are awake and alert enough to recognize it. And <\/em>we actually have enough energy to do what the still, small voice tells us to do! (See Elijah\u2019s story in I Kings 19)<\/p>\n

Beyond our normal patterns of trying to wrestle from God the wisdom we think we need, discernment is given as pure gift. We find that the transformation we are experiencing in God\u2019s presence really is leading us quite naturally to a greater capacity to discern the will of God, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Through the gentle but persistent nudging of the Spirit we begin to know what is called for in those places where we need wisdom. We discover that that<\/em> wisdom is often very different from the solutions we normally think our way into. And when the wisdom is just not there yet, we are restrained enough to wait until discernment is given.<\/p>\n

The Heart of Spiritual Leadership<\/strong><\/p>\n

The transforming leader is growing in awareness that the things most needing to be fixed, solved, and figured out in our lives will not be fixed, solved, figured out at the thinking level anyway.\u00a0 They will be solved at the listening <\/em>level where God\u2019s Spirit witnesses with our spirit about things that are true (Romans 8:16).\u00a0 This is the level at which God speaks to us about those things that cannot be taught by human wisdom but can only be taught by the Spirit. It is the level at which spiritual discernment is given as pure gift.\u00a0 (I Corinthians 2:12, 13).\u00a0 It is the level at which perfect love casts out fear so that we are free to respond to the risky invitations of God.\u00a0 (I John 4:18)\u00a0 The leader who listens on these levels and leads from that place is a different kind of leader indeed!<\/p>\n

The choice to lead from the place where we are growing and changing, listening and responding to God in risky ways is a vulnerable approach to leadership because it is a very tender place.\u00a0 It is a place where we don\u2019t have all the answers, where we are not always in control. However, if we are willing to lead from this place, we finally have something real to offer to others\u2014something that actually corresponds to what people around us are seeking. A way of life that works.\u00a0 Peace that comes from learning how to wait on God. \u00a0Awareness of God\u2019s unconditional love and presence as the bedrock of our identity. Real change in the areas of our lives where we need it most.\u00a0 Wisdom and guidance that leads in far more satisfying directions than our own human wisdom. A heart that is compassionate towards others because that is what we have experienced in God\u2019s presence.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the quality <\/em>of our leadership is decidedly different. Rather than leading from a place of being frenetically busy, we are leading from a place of rest in God. Rather than running on empty, we are being energized by the strength of soul that comes from being replenished in God\u2019s presence. Rather than being driven by the inner compulsions of the false self and the external demands of other people\u2019s expectation, we are learning to respond to God\u2019s call upon our lives in ways that are congruent with the self he knew and brought lovingly into being.<\/p>\n

While it may seem counter-intuitive and even dangerous to lead from this tender part of ourselves which we may be accustomed to keeping hidden in leadership settings, true <\/em>spiritual leadership hinges upon the capacity to lead from our own \u201ctransforming centre\u201d\u2014the true self that is hidden with Christ in God and is cultivated in the spiritual rhythms that keep us open and available to God.\u00a0 In short, the transforming leader who is committed to the rhythm of discerning and doing the will of God is the kind of leader that gets the real work of ministry done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rhythms of Work and Rest (Hierdie artikel is geskryf met die oog op geestelike leiers. Die waarhede is op ons almal van toepassing. Ons is almal of behoort almal geestelike leiers te wees. Lees dit tot die einde. Dit is deurleefde wysheid.)   \u201cWe are blessed with inner rhythms that tell us where we are, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-artikels"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}