Van Gogh, 'Noon: Rest from Work'I worked straight through this last weekend. It's not something I usually do. With two weeks till friends visit and behind on deadlines (self-imposed deadlines, I should add), I felt the need to keep working through the weekend. Chapters 4 and 5 were due Monday and I was way behind going into the weekend. In the end, neither were completed by Monday and I just finished up chapter 4 yesterday.
Working through the weekend, and missing the deadlines, has reminded me of something I had forgotten. Simply put, it's this: every part of me needs the break of a full-day away from work. There's a lot of reasons for this:
(1) A seven day week has turned into 10 days, and my body's wondering when the weekend is going to come. After a 10 day work week, my body is exhausted.
(2) Not taking a break has meant that the breaks during my days don't feel restful, because they're never enough to make up for what I skipped. Whether I take two hours for a movie with friends, go work out at the gym, or take a nap, at the end of each of the activities my body, mind, and spirit beg for more.
(3) As a result, I'm constantly looking for 'more' and my discipline and focus wains. This attempt to find that break comes out in all sorts of ways. Ironically, I blog a lot more when I haven't had breaks - it's a chance to get away from the paper or book I've been absorbed in. I sleep in later than I normally would; I spend more time on Facebook; I watch more T.V. These, and a host of other things, are all attempts at getting the break my body needs - but they're never enough.
(4) What had started as a 'work weekend' to get more done, has left me feeling tired, antsy for a chance to stop thinking about the project, a chance to let my imagination roam, to stop being productive for more than 30 minutes at a time, to rest.
It's a need for rest, not a break or a nap or a distraction. All of those are short and focus on the fact that there's something to get back to. They, inherently, infer that there's something we're stepping away from. Rest brings with it a sense of stopping, of ceasing from activity. It's what I realized I need.
Perhaps I'm the only one like that. I have friends who seem to always be working or thinking about working. I don't know if they ever take a full-day off and rest. Maybe they've been going 24/7 for so long that their minds and bodies have gotten used to it.
I've come to realize this week that I need that rest. I need to take a day in my week where little has to be done. Where my mind, body, or spirit can wander: through a novel, the outdoors, a devotional book, or a Psalm of David. It's that chance to give my whole being a break, not just who I am phsyically, emotionally, or spiritually, but every bit of me.
There's a word for it. It was something I've been told ever since I was a young boy. Truth be told, it's something that's been said for thousands of years. It's been abused through the years, like so many words and ideas that were supposed to be good for us - love, fear, submission, humility - that have been twisted, misunderstood, or abused.
It's a simple word, from an old language: sabbath, or, in the Hebrew, shabat. That day which God put into his ideal for the world, before sin ever entered it. The call to rest, having finished all the week's work. I forgot this week how much I need that rest. I forgot that the 'sabbath' was made for me - not as another day to have a list of things to accomplish - but as a rest from that productivity. My body, my soul, and my mind - all that I am, entirely created by God - needs it.
I think this weekend, I'll be taking a break. Scratch that. I'll rest and take a sabbath.
Working through the weekend, and missing the deadlines, has reminded me of something I had forgotten. Simply put, it's this: every part of me needs the break of a full-day away from work. There's a lot of reasons for this:
(1) A seven day week has turned into 10 days, and my body's wondering when the weekend is going to come. After a 10 day work week, my body is exhausted.
(2) Not taking a break has meant that the breaks during my days don't feel restful, because they're never enough to make up for what I skipped. Whether I take two hours for a movie with friends, go work out at the gym, or take a nap, at the end of each of the activities my body, mind, and spirit beg for more.
(3) As a result, I'm constantly looking for 'more' and my discipline and focus wains. This attempt to find that break comes out in all sorts of ways. Ironically, I blog a lot more when I haven't had breaks - it's a chance to get away from the paper or book I've been absorbed in. I sleep in later than I normally would; I spend more time on Facebook; I watch more T.V. These, and a host of other things, are all attempts at getting the break my body needs - but they're never enough.
(4) What had started as a 'work weekend' to get more done, has left me feeling tired, antsy for a chance to stop thinking about the project, a chance to let my imagination roam, to stop being productive for more than 30 minutes at a time, to rest.
It's a need for rest, not a break or a nap or a distraction. All of those are short and focus on the fact that there's something to get back to. They, inherently, infer that there's something we're stepping away from. Rest brings with it a sense of stopping, of ceasing from activity. It's what I realized I need.
Perhaps I'm the only one like that. I have friends who seem to always be working or thinking about working. I don't know if they ever take a full-day off and rest. Maybe they've been going 24/7 for so long that their minds and bodies have gotten used to it.
I've come to realize this week that I need that rest. I need to take a day in my week where little has to be done. Where my mind, body, or spirit can wander: through a novel, the outdoors, a devotional book, or a Psalm of David. It's that chance to give my whole being a break, not just who I am phsyically, emotionally, or spiritually, but every bit of me.
There's a word for it. It was something I've been told ever since I was a young boy. Truth be told, it's something that's been said for thousands of years. It's been abused through the years, like so many words and ideas that were supposed to be good for us - love, fear, submission, humility - that have been twisted, misunderstood, or abused.
It's a simple word, from an old language: sabbath, or, in the Hebrew, shabat. That day which God put into his ideal for the world, before sin ever entered it. The call to rest, having finished all the week's work. I forgot this week how much I need that rest. I forgot that the 'sabbath' was made for me - not as another day to have a list of things to accomplish - but as a rest from that productivity. My body, my soul, and my mind - all that I am, entirely created by God - needs it.
I think this weekend, I'll be taking a break. Scratch that. I'll rest and take a sabbath.
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