The way work is set up for most of us is that we work a bunch of hours
over a five to six day period and the seventh day is off, unless there
is a real problem, overload, or huge deadline that we might miss. We,
in most cases, can get our day of rest, that is if we choose to take it.
Many of us, myself included, find some time all seven days to "do some
"catch up" or take a few minutes to "get ahead of the week". This is not
all bad, but when analyzed it means that our brains are tuning into our
work seven days a week and we never really give ourselves the chance to
bring our minds down to a more peaceful state, if even for a day.
After all of these years of working closely with others on their work
and careers, I can almost smell burnout on someone. I can see it in
their eyes, their mannerisms and even sometimes in the wrinkles of
stress on their face. This may be because it is also so obvious to
others when I personally reach that point. I can even see it in the
mirror on me. The shape of my eyes change when I am tired and/or
stressed. As you can imagine, it is no fun to know that you are
stressed, but then to see it, and still not be able to do much about it,
well that just adds to the stress doesn't it?
God modeled a day of rest
of all of us, and then established that day of rest as a day of sabbath
for us to turn our attention away from the world around us and turn our
mind to Him. He even laid out in Leviticus 25 a "Sabbath Year" every
seven years. For those who enjoy a "sabbatical" period in their jobs,
they can thank God, Moses and the Israelites for this. God asks us to
rest in our lives and to put some time for Him in between the daily work
that He has given us to do. He wants us to be refreshed and ready for
the next challenges ahead of us. If we are exhausted, stressed, beaten
down, we cannot be ready for the next obstacle we will face. It may be
that God is calling you to be thinking about how much rest you are
getting. Is He telling you in other ways that you are reaching a
"redline" on your life tachometer? If you sense it, feel it, hear a
voice inside you or from a friend, loved one, or co-worker, that it may
be time to get some rest, take heed of those words. God needs you
refreshed, strong and ready for the work that He wants to do through you
in your job. Maybe this week is the week to start planning towards
using this coming Sunday as a true Sabbath day of rest.
Reference: Leviticus 25 (New Living Testament)
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