How many times have you been out and about all day wrapping up some mundane but important tasks? Imagine visiting the bank to resolve some issue the phone-based customer service could not handle and suddenly you notice that blinking indicator which shows that your phone is dying. There are many places where a quick charge can be done, but for one reason or another, the charger was left at home. Most persons would experience a paroxysm of frustration and grief because the phone is needed to get the final bits of the day’s business done.
In the same way that our devices will need a periodic charge to keep on going, our minds, bodies, and souls also need a time of rest, relaxation and most of all restoration to keep on overcoming the struggles of life.
The Need to Relax
The idea of the “olden days” back when life was simpler is a nostalgic notion where many will say yes, we need to go back there. Looking deeply into those days will show the reader that our ancestors were just as busy as we are today.
Many had jobs to attend to for six or seven days a week, others had businesses to run and some had a field with animals to tend to. In the 1800s for example, the standard work week was seventy hours long. The “provincial” lifestyle required an early rise to maximize the sunlight and hard work with long hours throughout the day.
In the same way, our modern lives are hectic, busy and fraught with troubles. Constantly dealing with problems will make a person weary and tired, hence God instituting a day for rest and worship.
Being too busy has a silent and hidden debilitating effect on a person’s outlook on life. If you are constantly busy, tired and just going, when do you get a chance to reflect on yourself? If your mind is always occupied with other concerns, when do you reflect your actions, your state of mind, and most importantly how do you prepare yourself from attacks of the enemy?
Learn to Refuse Some Tasks
The constant barrage of issues and tasks will cause a person to forget what being fully charged and connected feels like. Always having something pressing at work, always having to help family and friends and then having to face yourself if you fail can be a bit much. Remember we are all human; we are to maximize our talents and serve our fellow man, but in the end, too much service without the Lord will cause us to fail.
In Matthew God gave us an important instruction “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Becoming whole again begins with having restful sleep. The Lord gives His peace to those He loves. So anything preventing a great time while sleeping needs to be put before Him and removed from your life.
