By Nicole Body
Have you found yourself saying, “I can’t believe it’s the end of March?” followed by a statement or response of “I know! Where has the time gone?” I’m the first to say each of these! These statements should raise a caution sign and lead us to analyze, evaluate, and consider how we might be living.
With jobs, school, kids, volunteer activities, and more, we live in a time where there is always something to accomplish or do. If we had the capacity (which we don’t) to work 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, it still wouldn’t be enough time to get everything done that “needs” to be. Since we can’t do that, we find ourselves stretching ourselves very thin and working so hard that we can tend to lose sight of what should matter and fill it with all the other stuff. Now don’t get me wrong, I know there are obligations that we are called to fulfill and those cannot be ignored, but as for me, I know that I can fill my time with way more than I can handle and not all of it is completely necessary (even though I can convince myself that it is.)
When we look at the creation in Genesis, we see God at work for 6 out of the 7 days. What was he doing on the 7th day and why would he include that day if he wasn’t working?
“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” Genesis 2:1-2
It’s important to note that God was not tired. He doesn’t ever run out of energy! I believe that God included these verses to show the importance of us surrendering the busyness of our lives and taking a day each week to rest. We are not God and we have limitations. If we don’t stop and enjoy God’s creation and refuel ourselves, we could find ourselves saying, “Where have the last 10 years of my life gone?” only to find that we stretched ourselves without resting, kept the pedal to the metal without enjoying the ride, and burned ourselves out in areas that could have been impactful and good had we placed margin and balance in our lives.
I pray that we can make efforts and recognize the importance of surrendering the busyness of our lives just as God has demonstrated for us to do. Let us not get too carried away with doing that we forget our instruction and commandment from God to rest and surrender busyness.
“There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.”