Give it a rest

Once again, modern man confirms those musty old Commandments weren't just expressions of some kind of control freak, but actually insight into maximizing life's potential: 

We go 24/7 now, and I think it's having health consequences. I think more and more, there's a consensus that it leads to depression and anxiety.  It's interesting, when a doctor sits down and does a primary intake with a new patient, they ask about smoking, exercise and diet, but they don't ask how much you're working. They don't get any sense of if you're working seven days a week, or if you have time set aside -- like people have always had -- for rest...

Even if on Monday I'm very, very busy -- and that proceeds throughout the week -- if you know you have a habit of a weekly day of rest, of stopping, then you always know that's out in front of you. A lot of people "go" and never know when it is that they're going to come to rest...

I think it actually helps you to order your life, because in preparing for that day of rest, you... actually get more things done on the six days that you are working...

We were not designed to live life on autopilot, in a continuous snooze-primp-work-chores-snooze rat-race loop.  By grasping for more -- more sales, more options, more overtime pay, more, more, more -- our culture has lost significant parts of what it already had.

The irony of my temperament is that while I tend to be ridiculously structured and methodical with work and personal organization, I also crave those quiet unscheduled times where my mind can wander and I can "just be."  It's those moments, when I'm not thinking through the steps to the next deadline or item on the "honey-do list" that I recharge.  

It's also when scripture speaks to me most.  There's no doubt in my mind God was being instructive when He said "be STILL, and know that I am God."  Today's techno-fueled mass A-D-D is the very antithesis of that quiet contemplation.

Unplug.  Unwind.  Unleash from "conforming to the pattern of this world."  You'll be glad you did.

(Note: thanks to Blogger's scheduling feature, this--like many 'Sunday' posts--was written in advance.  Like the article says, seeking that unstructured time makes you plan ahead!)