How do you plan to spend your Christmas vacation? Will you be visiting family, or are you going to stay home and celebrate with friends? Do you plan to take any time off of work, or just Christmas Day?
In less than forty-eight hours my family and I board a plane for Los Angeles. We are excited about this trip! Not only because it has been two years since we celebrated Christmas with my family, but also because Teresa’s brother is getting married later in January. We’ll be in the States for six weeks and it will be a riot! (Yes, I’m anticipating a riot traveling with two toddlers.)
One of my biggest weaknesses is trying to do too much at one time. As a result, I often don’t get everything done. On Sundays, I find it hard to sit and read because I think of everything else I could and should be doing. I feel like I’m often running behind and not able to keep on top of life.
While I know I have much to learn about time management, I also know I have an issue with control. I like to know things are accomplished well, that I appear all-together and not a slob.
I tried hard to work ahead so I could publish a post each week we’re in the States without needing to do any writing during the trip, but I got to this week and didn’t have any extra posts written. When my wife and I were talking about what needs to happen before we go, and how we’d like to spend the trip (preferably, not with Daddy always making sure the post is ready to go and shared properly on social media 🙂 ), we felt it was best to take a “sabbatical” from blogging. Rather than try to keep every week as consistent as it’s been for the last year and a half, it’s time to take a break.
Almost as soon as I decided that’s what I would do, I felt relief. That’s when I realized something: we avoid rest because we try to control.
Yes, we purposely avoid restful times because when we’re resting, we feel out of control.
Maybe that’s why God instituted a Sabbath rest: so we remember He is the One in control, not us.
I’ve been trying to stop and rest more often, mostly on Sundays. It doesn’t always go as I’d like, but I’ve done it enough to realize how valuable it is and I’m already looking forward this “Sabbatical.”
If you’re not planning to take much time off for Christmas, let me give you five reasons why you should. Or at least why you should take time off at some point in the next year.
#1 – You get more sleep
It seems to be a universal problem to run ourselves low on sleep. Yes, we should develop better sleep habits, but one benefit of taking a break from your work and normal routine is that it provides an opportunity to get more sleep.
I’m looking forward to that this Christmas. 😉
#2 – You gain perspective
You know how a painter steps back from his mural to evaluate his work? Taking time off is the same way: we gain perspective on what we’re doing with our lives. We see how those projects that are consuming our time and energy may not be as important as we at first thought. We also have the space to see the good we’re accomplishing as well, especially if we are involved in work that takes time to see progress. Gaining a birds-eye perspective helps us know what tasks to quit wasting our time on, and where we should set better goals to become more effective.
#3 – You are relieved of stress
Have you ever noticed how often our stress comes from lack of sleep and having our noses too close to the grind stone? Taking a break, enables us to see what is causing stress, and more than not, help us find relief.
#4 – You have more time with the people most important to you
We all know how it goes, life gets busy and we miss those closest to us. Taking a break from work frees us to better engage family and close friends.
#5 – You hear God more clearly
Stopping and listening to God ought to be a daily (or several times a day) occurrence, but I find there is added value in taking an extended period of time to reflect, read God’s Word and listen. Ever significant turn of events in my life has come about through taking time to listen to God.
Think about we might miss when we blitz through our regular routines (even routines of Bible study and prayer) and never actually stop for several days and reflect with God.
#6 – You have more energy when we come off the break
Naturally, if we truly rest on break, we have increased energy to get back to work once it’s over. Studies show that working steadily without breaks is quite counterproductive.
#7 – You remember that we are not in control; God is
Life moves along without us at the helm. God is in control. We’re not the ones making it spin. Too often we forget that and stepping back to take a break helps us remember it.
I’m sure the next six weeks will be quite busy. We’ll be doing some traveling within the States and I doubt it will always feel very restful. That’s especially why I won’t be publishing any posts while we’re gone: I want to be able to take advantage of the restful times we do get.
I will publish the last post for the year next week on Christmas Day. Look for a special announcement from us as a family. We’ll be in LA with my side of the family and hanging out with many wonderful friends. 🙂
My next post will come February fifth. Lord willing, by then I’ll be able to give you a sneak peak into my book. There will also be a totally new design to the blog with added pages and features.
God bless your Christmas season! Soak up the rest. Engage the people around you. And remember, God is in control. So much so that He made a way we could be freed from our sins.
“Mild He lays His glory by,
“Born that man no more may die:
“Born to raise the sons of earth,
“Born to give them second birth.”
