#10 Stop!

It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones. Psalm 127:2 (NLT)

I came across this verse in a book that I was reading today and I realized that there are some great ideas to unpack in this verse. Let’s take a look and see what we can learn about having a work ethic from the great book. 

So you want to have a great work ethic, eh? Do you want to hear the single greatest piece of advice that you can get about working as hard as you can?

Don’t. 

Just kidding! Well, sort of. Honestly, these days I feel like we over-glorify our work ethic. We look at the people who grind themselves to the bone, living a life where they’re always worn too thin, and we praise them. We glorify them. We practically worship them. I think it’s just a wee bit wrong, honestly. 

Don’t get me wrong-if your back is against the wall, and you truly need to live like this, go for it. But make a plan so that it’s just for a time. What do you really hope to accomplish by working this much? Most of the people that I have talked to that have made good money were pretty happy to give it up because they didn’t have any time to enjoy any of it anyway. 

It’s kind of funny-in any other context, we would see someone being pushed to unhealthy extremes that they can’t get out of, and we would call it slavery. But, for some reason, it’s a virtue when it comes to our jobs. Maybe it’s because of how pretty everything looks on the outside of their lives. But we never stop to look at all the stress that comes with that level of obsession. We don’t think about just how much pressure such a lifestyle brings, and what that could do to someone. Honestly, I think I would rather take on a little less work than have a stress level that could send me to an early grave. How about you?

But anyone that knows me also knows I’m no bum, and I’m not giving you an excuse to be one either. All I’m saying is to make sure that you are in control of your workflow, and not the other way around. Make sure you are completely capable of taking a day off when you need to. Rest and recharge when you feel like you aren’t doing things as well as you used to. And don’t push to work harder when that day comes. That will only burn you out quicker. 

And that’s another reason that it’s so necessary to have a day of rest-to retake control of yourself. Working hard is good, but if it starts to control your life, then you have a problem. Take a day to get re-inspired and to cherish how hard you have worked all week. Then you will come back on Monday kickin’ like a chicken and ready for another round.

And really, I think God made sure that we kept this rest day because He knew that we would face a lot of hunger for something that we’ll never have enough of: power. I like to think that God sees us like we see our pets- they’re cute, they’re cuddly, and compared to us, they’re pretty much powerless. You won’t see your dog Steve going 70mph down the highway, or your cat buying his own food. They just can’t do that. 

Deep down, we know that there’s very little that we can control. And working too hard can become a way of trying to fight our own helplessness. But it can actually be pretty freeing when we let go of the need to control it all. But believe me, it can be scary too. I had to wrestle with this for a while. In fact, I still do sometimes. But taking that one day to leave all my ambitions at the door and melting into the couch with a good video game can be incredibly freeing.

And I get it that not everyone can afford to do that. Sometimes, you have to work 7 days a week. I have had those times too. But make sure to be intentional about keeping some time in your schedule to rest. After all, we aren’t machines, and life is about so much more than working really hard. I pray that God helps you find your balance, acting as your coach to get you through to where you need to be.

Until Next Time

May Peace be your Guide.