On our staff retreat, Derek spent some time talking about rest and work. I've been thinking about it ever since.
My Idea: Work as long and as hard as possible to the best of your ability, then rest to make up for it (a.k.a. crash).
God's Idea: Rest THEN be productive in your work. Times of rest should feed your ability to be productive.
Derek talked about creation and how man was made on the 6th day. What happened on the 7th? Rest. The act of resting shouldn't be the result of work. Rest should prepare us for work. This might all sound very elementary, but it seriously changed my whole outlook on the subject. I've always been a "run myself into the ground" type of person. I usually try to have a day off, but it's never to prepare for working. It's always to make up for time I've already worked. Total mind shift.
I guess I don't know how to break the cycle. I almost feel like I need a vacation in order to get on the right track. I'm going away next Sunday-Tuesday, so that might be a good time to start.
What do you do on your day(s) off? What constitutes "rest" for you? I need a new regimen.
6 comments:
Rest is what happens when I get a long (more than an hour without having to change transport) journey. Other than that, it really doesn't happen.
~x~
Rest??? What is that??? I can remember being little and on Sunday the gas stations weren't even open...no grocery store let alone any place to shop. We would drive through town on the way home from our grandparent visit and it was a ghost town. Not like today. Although, now living in the south, it really irritates me, because on Sunday a lot things ARE closed here. Especially restaurants. Almost everything LOCALLY owned is closed that is not a chain. Apparently some people still do honor the sabath.
Ideal rest- good book, warm sun, good company, no place to be.
I was just reading that a hundred years ago somewhere in russia, they decided go from a 7 day to a ten day work week(with no day of rest)...well the horses started getting sick and dying off, instead of being more productive, things were less productive. Anyways, I take naps, on Sundays we take an afternoon nap and really don't do much of anything.
when i do... take a nap. reading the Bible or a good book. some minor yard work, or just walking around admiring the outdoors. being outdoors. fasting. being alone. quiet. getting away from where life normally happens.
I'll third that good book is quite resting! I particularly like to read on the porch (when it's nice out) with a glass of wine. It takes your mind on a little (much needed) vacation from everything else running around up there. I've been trying to read a book for almost 2 months now, so that goes to show how much resting I've been doing lately.
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