How often do we hear the above response? In our crazy, busy lifestyles – we seem to have forgotten that one of the original Ten Commandments was to take a Sabbath Day (a day of rest) at least once a week. I wanted to share a few quotes from a book I would strongly recommend to anyone who feels like they are running at full speed on a hamster wheel. It is called Addicted to Busy by Brady Boyd, and can be found at:
See if any of these quotes resonate with you:
- “If we do not allow for a rhythm of rest in our overly busy lives, illness becomes our Sabbath – our pneumonia, our cancer, our heart attack, our accidents create Sabbath for us.” (pg. 33)
- “Ultimately, every problem I see in every person I know is a problem of moving too fast for too long in too many aspects of life.” (pg. 44)
- “God is not merely a peaceful person; God, in fact, is peace. When we sit in God’s presence, we’re sitting in the presence of peace.” (pg. 56)
- “I have a theory on this, which is that busyness is our means to impress. If I’m busy, then I’m important, and if I’m important, then you’ll be impressed. Right?” (pg. 70)
- “I’ve been to Jerusalem on several occasions, and each time I’m there over a Sabbath, I’m struck by how seriously the Jews take their day of rest. In Jerusalem, you can’t get anything done on the Sabbath. Nothing. The whole town essentially shuts down. . . . I guarantee all Jewish shopkeepers are closed for the day. They’re at home or at a synagogue with their families, enjoying a Sabbath meal, enjoying the pleasure of one another’s company, and enjoying the inner strength that comes when we rest.” (pg. 83-84)
- “‘Jesus obeyed a deeper rhythm,'” . . . . Absolutely, he does just that: engage, engage, engage, withdraw . . . . engage, engage, engage, withdraw . . . . It’s how we’re invited to live too.” (pg. 105)
- “Something always interrupts our rest, because real rest is always opposed.” (pg. 164)
And in conclusion – my favorite part:
- ” . . . . we think if we don’t get every room vacuumed, every bookshelf dusted, every meal made by hand, every child’s homework folder initialed, every birthday party attended, every plant watered, every inch of grass mowed, every load of laundry folded, every lacrosse practice made, every book read, every app mastered, every televised sporting event watched, every everything done, we will somehow be lesser human beings. I myself had lived according to that philosophy for far too many years. I’m here to tell you it’s bunk. The whole philosophy is bunk. The universe will keep on spinning, and you will keep on being a great person, even if a few things are left undone.
- “A New Zealand Prayer Book has a fantastic prayer in it called “Night Prayer,” and one of the stanzas reads,
“It is night after a long day.
What has been done has been done;
what has not been done has not been done;
let it be.” (pg. 89)
Great advice “let it be.” Or, as the psalmist once wrote:
“Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)
Please comment below. Besides napping, what are activities you do that bring you “rest”? And if you haven’t already, please sign up for my email list 🙂
Hey, my friend! Such a great reminder of the balance we need to create or maintain in our lives. We have to be intentional about it. My favorite thing to do with downtime is hang out with Rylee…even though she is a busy girl, time spent with her watching her sports, going places, or just planted on the couch watching TV is restful and rejuvenating.
Thank you for being an encourager all the time!! 🙂
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Carrie, you’re right – hanging out with kids is one of the best ways to unwind and forget the cares of the day. Thank you for being such a positve influence in all that you do!
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Dave, you may have seen a wall in our basement, next to Stan’s workbench, that we created over 18 years ago and call “Life’s Reminders.” Reading your post today has helped me remember that it’s okay to slow down, call a time out and go revisit our wall. Thanks for being the voice of spiritual reasoning at a time when it is most needed! Hugs! Dawn: lemmel2@comcast.net
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Dawn, after I made my way past the chainsaws – I did see the wall! 🙂 Seriously, I think I read every comment on it. The quotes by Michael Landon I remember the most. Hugs back!
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Quiet time—mostly reading, sitting outside in the warm sunshine (very relaxing), Every day if possible my husband and I play Scrabble at 4PM—-I guess that’s relaxing and unwinding 🙂 :)…. Those are my favorites!!!!
Gail Rische
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Mom, right there with you in enjoying the quiet. But not in the sunshine 🙂
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Dave,
This is good “stuff.” Great writing. Thank you. I needed these reminders. Sharon
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Sharon, Thank you for your kind comments. I keep meaning to ask you how your book is coming?
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HI. I fully agree with the concept of “resting”, but I still have guilt feelings that what I perceive as “so many things not done” that it still bothers me. Please keep up the blog.
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Debi, I totally understand how you feel. I struggle with guilt when I’m just relaxing – feel the need to multi-task to justify taking a break 🙂
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