My life is full of activity as I’m sure your life is too. Our household is one of constant motion especially during the work week. Here’s a quick look at a typical day during the work week for us. The day starts off with getting up at 5am to workout. Then it’s getting cleaned up and ready for the commute to work and school. We are out of the door around 7am to begin the commute. There is a drop-off of CA at school then the commute continues to drop Jen off at work.
From that point it continues until I get to work. Then it’s our 8-9 hour workday and we repeat the cycle in reverse. First pick up Jen, then pick up CA then head home. Depending on the day there could be a basketball or hockey practice to coach. Oh, and we have to eat, clean up, get lunches ready for the next day. Then it’s time to put CA to bed, prepare clothes for the next day and finally get a chance to relax before bed! Whew, that was tiring just typing it out! 🙂 Oh and the weekends continue the busyness with church ministry work, basketball and hockey games, etc.
Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about our life at all. That snapshot of our day is probably no different than many of your days out there. We live in a very busy time. Being busy and taking part in the things we do for our families is not bad. In order for us to be who God has called us to be we will have to get up and move. There is going to be work that we have to put in. Our jobs provide the means for us to support our families. Our participation in youth sports brings us valuable time with our children. Our time working church ministry helps bring God’s kingdom to everyone. Much of the time we spend in our busy life is by no means wasted.
But even as we strive to do all those things to move closer to our true purpose, there is a key component we routinely leave out. That key component is REST. It is so easy for us to believe we can get by on limited sleep and relaxation. We believe we can continue to grind it out with no repercussions. Whether we want to believe it or not our bodies and our minds start showing the effects of this. We start to get sluggish, tired, more irritable and on edge. Our productivity starts to go down and we have a hard time staying focused on finishing the tasks we have to complete. I speak from experience on this because I’ve seen myself go through these same things when I don’t get enough rest. More importantly, my family has to deal with me when I’m like this, which is not fair to them.
What does scripture say about getting rest? Well right up front we see our Heavenly Father resting after creating the universe in Genesis 2:2 (NLT), “On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work.” So you mean to tell me our God rested but it’s not something we need to do? I guess that’s what I thought when I would bypass much needed rest to do something that just couldn’t wait. I guess at times we all believe we know better than God does in this area. Getting enough rest is something we have to intentionally focus on doing because if we don’t it will get pushed to the back burner.
So yesterday what did my Saturday consist of? Other than working out in the morning and doing some light house work it was full of rest and relaxation. I did some reading and watched some football while CA and his cousin played downstairs. Basically, I kicked my feet up and “vegged out” as some may call it.
Now did I do this because I’m a lazy person or I didn’t have anything I could be doing. No, not by any stretch of the imagination. There was plenty I could have done but I realized it was time for me to have a day of rest. The signs were starting to show and I wanted to nip that in the bud. We have to realize how important days like that are for us. We have to take time to rejuvenate our minds and our bodies so we can continue down the path God has laid out for us.
I know many times society says we have to stay busy, we have to fill our time with stuff, if we slow down then someone else is going to take our place. I get that and understand where that is coming from. I am not suggesting you just stop everything you are doing but what I am suggesting is you find time to rest. If you don’t include ample rest it will negatively affect you. You need to be the best version of you to achieve all that God has planned for you. In order to do that you have to relax and rejuvenate.
The action step for today is to set aside time to relax and rejuvenate. If you aren’t already doing this open up your calendar and establish the time. I know it may not be possible to take an entire day but that’s okay. There is at least a half-day or a few hours you can set aside to kick back and do nothing but relax. I guarantee you the things you believe you have to do can wait. The renewed energy and focus you gain will be well worth it. You will be ready to continue the mission God has for you! To live the life He is calling you to live!
Truth in Love! ~ Chuck