Everyone Needs a Day of Rest
Most of us struggle with moderation. We know the importance of eating a healthy diet, but too often we yield to temptation and eat more than we should. We wrestle with how much work we need to put in each day versus the importance of spending time with family. Sometimes we engage in hobbies that take over our lives instead of serving as therapeutic distractions from work. We tend to become obsessed with one extreme or another and find keeping all the balls in the air a difficult challenge.
We seem to have a difficult time knowing when to put our foot on the gas and when to pump the brakes to slow down. In today’s fast-paced culture we often feel as though we are on an endless treadmill with no way of getting off. Finding a way to balance work and rest may be one of the most important secrets of living a long, happy and fulfilled life.
I have friends who work non-stop for weeks on end. They remind me of the Energizer Bunny with their continuous frenetic activity. I admire them to a point, but when I see these people spend more time at work than with their families, I worry that they are losing out on the most valuable moments of life. I know a number of people who are passionate about a hobby—bicycling, exercising, playing or watching golf or other sports on television--and they sometimes feel guilty that they spend more time with their hobbies than work or family.
Even church can grow into an obsession that drains life from people. Church can become an excuse that allows us to feel as though we are doing God’s work, when God’s most important work may be to spend quality time with family or friends. Through the years I have known ministers and laypeople who used their involvement in church to avoid responsibilities either at home or in their community.
One Sunday night a few weeks ago my wife and I were invited to a neighbor’s backyard, where we watched their kids play on a Slip ‘N Slide. I laughed and giggled as the kids ran, dove head first and slid along the slide. Slowly a strange feeling began to sweep over me, a sense of profound sorrow. My emotions became raw and I found myself sinking into melancholy. As I continued to watch the children play I began to realize what was happening.
Throughout my children’s lives I seldom enjoyed a single Sunday night like the one I was experiencing with my neighbors. I was always in church--maybe attending a meeting or preaching to a congregation or trying to help someone sort through a family problem. Admittedly, the work fed my ego and made me feel important. I mistakenly believed that the church couldn’t do without me, but I was wrong. No one is indispensable, and the world will make it just fine without us. There are people in our lives, however,--a spouse, children, parents--who need us far more than our work or hobbies.
I have regret and guilt about many of those evenings I spent at church when I should have been at home with my family, enjoying life with them, listening to them, playing with them. Spending time with the people I loved most, and who needed me most, would have been a sacred use of my time.
Of course church is important and raising one’s family in a healthy religious environment lays a spiritual foundation that will undergird them throughout life, but church, too, needs to be balanced. Even our involvement in good activities can get out of whack, whenever we prioritize what’s good over what’s best.
We all need one day of the week that we set aside for ourselves, family and friends, where we do nothing but enjoy the gift of life we have been given with those closest to us. You may not think that you can afford such a day of rest, but in reality you cannot afford not to have such a day of rest.
The Bible tells us that on the seventh day God rested from his creative work. The Bible doesn’t say what God did. I wonder if he just sat back and enjoyed the day, lazily watching the clouds drifting carelessly across the sky or maybe he enjoyed fellowship with the angels or maybe he took a stroll through the galaxies or maybe God just looked with pride at the handiwork of his creation. The only thing we know is that God rested from all his labor.
One Monday morning I walked through the church office door and spotted a staff member. I greeted him and asked him how his morning was going. He quickly responded, “I’m exhausted. I went to ball games all day Saturday and then was at church all day yesterday. I need a rest.”
The fact is, we all need a day of rest—one day when we are idle, when we take a break from all the hectic activity that constitutes life in today’s culture in order to refresh our spirits. We need a time to just take it easy, maybe watch one of our favorite movies on television or maybe visit our parents or maybe just watch our kids in the backyard play on the Slip ‘N Slide. Worship is certainly part of the day of rest, but worship of our Creator has many expressions—there is public worship, where we gather together and celebrate God’s goodness, but there is also a form of worship that is more private, shared with loved ones and perhaps a few friends. This form of worship honors our Creator by expressing mere gratitude for life and the gifts of family and those closest to us, where we bask in the pure enjoyment of God’s blessings. That, too, is worship, the kind of worship that values those dearest to us and takes stock of the short time we have on this earth.
God commanded us to observe the seventh day and set it apart from all other days, for it is a “holy” day. A day becomes holy when we set it apart, and dedicate the day to God in appreciation and joy for his gift of creation. It is the one day of the week when we evaluate how we are living our life and reorder our priorities to make sure that we are spending life with those who need us most. Surely, that too is a way to honor God.
