Get Some Rest

We put a great value on how busy we are but not on our ability to rest. Does the following sum up our story? 

We run everywhere we go because we are always late. We are always late because we are trying to do too much with the time we have. We are trying to do to much because we are afraid of doing nothing. We are afraid of doing nothing because we ultimately doubt whether God has plans for us. We doubt God's plans because we have not asked Him. We have not asked Him because we already have too much to do!

Have you ever considered that God might not want you doing all the things you are doing? Maybe some of the things aren't helping you at all.

Are we training our children to be just as hurried?

Our children are still asleep as they sit at the breakfast table. We take them and their breakfasts and drop them at the door of the school. We pick them up after school, buy them a Happy Meal and let them eat and change clothes as we travel to their soccer practice. We take them home from practice to clean up, do their homework and watch a little tv before going to bed. Tomorrow we do it all again substituting piano lessons for soccer practice. The next day its karate and the next its swim team. They will never grow up to smell the roses because they won't know how. They will never know how to relax.

Why would we want to fill our lives with so many things? Do we need to be stimulated to know we are alive? Or, are we being stimulated so we won't know we're alive?

God put a day of rest in His plans. We have forgotten how to rest. We fill every moment with something. We seem to be slaves to our own appetite for things to do.

I have lived at the beach for almost five years. I have said that I want to sit on one of the benches on the board walk and watch the waves come in. I have never done so. Funny thing is, I can't explain why. I suppose I don't want to take the time. 

If you don't get enough rest you will get sick. You will be grumpy. You will make bad decisions. You will do poor work.  

I am committing myself to some rest. I will get seven hours of sleep each day. I will spend an hour simply thinking about my life, what I need to do and what I need to be. I will work hard when I work so I can have the time to do these things. I will do so because it is best for me to get this rest so I can be the best at what I do.

And I will tell others:

Get some rest. It will do you some good.