Make Time to Rest

I took the month of August off because I need to rest. During this semi-sabbatical, I am focusing on spirit and soul care, personal discipline, and tuning out the noise so I can hear clearly. Time moves so swiftly and we need to make time for ourselves. The order of priorities should be 1) your relationship with God, 2) yourself, and 3) your spouse. If you aren't married, you can substitute your children for your spouse. Everyone and everything must take a number and stand in line.

We have been misguided during our lives to put everyone before ourselves. We get exhausted rescuing, saving, and helping people. Many of these people don't want your help or to be saved. They are content with self-destruction and nothing you can do can make them do better for themselves. We give so much to seemingly good things, forgetting that good things are not great things. Good works can become tiring. Doing good for people who don't want to do good for themselves will eventually destroy you mentally, physically, financially, and spiritually.

If you are determined to complete your assignments with excellence, keep going. Let's the pursuit of a higher calling motivate you. Let the desire to leave a legacy drive you. Let the quest to have a great reputation among your peers and colleagues light fire in you. But in the process of doing these things, make time to rest.

Rest can be a long vacation. Rest can be a staycation. Rest can be a weekend getaway. My summer reading is a book entitled, "The Moves that Matter", by Johnathan Rowson. Mr. Rowson is a chess grandmaster who wrote this book to illustrate the parallels of chess and life. It is one of the best books I have read in awhile. Rest can include reading books like this to refresh your mind and rebalance your perspectives on what's really important.

Things have been rough in the world lately. No one is so strong, or so mentally equipped that we cannot be broken. Breaking can be good in that sometimes our character needs to be refined. But there is a breaking that can destroy and you will never recover. Don't let yourself get so broken that you cannot rebound. Stress is a breaker and a silent killer. If you have not don't so, look at your calendar and make time for yourself this summer. Work will be there. The children will be there. The responsibilities and commitments will be there.

Make sure you are there to see all things you look forward to in life. You only have one.