I find it interesting that those “highly successful people” we’ve been hearing about don’t keep driving themselves 24-7, nor do they work 18-hour days. They quit when they’re tired, and they stop amid work and take regular breaks. More than that: they block time for rest and relaxation: time reserved for family and friends, time just to stop and relax and let strength and purpose replenish.

I found it interesting, a couple decades ago, to hear on a regular, secular radio newscast about study results reporting the most beneficial rhythm of training and rest, training and rest, for atheletes in heavy competition: Six days of training and one day of physical rest from the training schedule. The sports medicine researchers had arrived at this formula by trying out all kinds of different patterns of training and rest to determine the one that resulted in best performance.

I find these things interesting because these humans discovered by trial and error exactly the same pattern that God prescribed for his people when He led them forty years through the wilderness. They didn’t go on relentlessly, day after day, but “rested on the seventh day,” as God had prescribed in His Mosaic law, and as He had ordained right at the culmination of creation.

Jesus said that the world often “gets it” with good common-sense principles enough to be examples of practical wisdom to Christians!  This seems to be the case with the purposeful establishment of “time off” from the busy race to high achievement.

The purposeful practice of a weekly day of real rest is just one way to “Rest Your Way to Success.” There are two more that I can think of. One is recognizing when you need to step back from outputting and “come aside.”

Jesus demonstrated this principle Himself, personally, when He dismissed the crowds clamoring for healing, feeding, and teaching, and withdrew to a quiet, secluded spot to draw near His Father–not necessarily on the Sabbath–and instructed His disciples to do the same thing themselves. ‘

The other way is by resting in God in the spiritual sense all the time. “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of/from me… for my yoke is easy and my burden is light, and you will find rest for your souls.

In the Old Testament also, God declared through His prophets that

“In returning and rest you shall be saved;

in quietness and in trust shall be your strength” (Isaiah 30:15).

So, taking a cue from all that, I’ll be taking the weekend off again from blogging. even in this series commitment. I’ll just make up the missing posts next month.

And may you enjoy quietness and trust this weekend in Sabbath resting in Him.

*****

For a set of links to all the other posts in this “Meandering Forward” series, go to this page, which will be updated daily as new posts appear in the blog content.