Make Space to Breathe: Scheduling Rest
This post is Day 8 in the 31 Days to a Super-Purposeful Schedule series.
Do you ever feel like you can't breathe?
There are so many to-dos on your list or there's so much on your plate to manage that you can't even think straight anymore. Maybe you feel pulled in so many directions that the thought of sitting down for a second doesn't even cross your mind. You go at full speed all day long.
Did I just describe your life right now?
The problem with living like this for long is that it eventually starts to catch up with you. Things start falling through the cracks. You can't make time for people you care about. Even when you have the chance to rest, your mind is still going. It's exhausting.
There's really only one solution. You have to add some margin.
You might be thinking, "Um...if one more thing gets added to my schedule, the whole thing might explode. So how can I make room for more rest?"
The biggest way to make more room and let things go is to start getting rid of your worry.
We worry about basics...we might not have money for the food or clothes we need.
We worry about getting behind...we might not reach our goals or keep up with our competitors.
We worry about people...we could lose followers or customers or approval of others.
One of my favorite passages in scripture talks about this. Jesus is speaking: "So I tell you, don’t worry about the things you need to live—what you will eat, drink, or wear.
Life is more important than food, and the body is more important than what you put on it.
Look at the birds. They don’t plant, harvest, or save food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them.
Don’t you know you are worth much more than they are?
You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it.
And why do you worry about clothes? Look at the wildflowers in the field. See how they grow. They don’t work or make clothes for themselves. But I tell you that even Solomon, the great and rich king, was not dressed as beautifully as one of these flowers. If God makes what grows in the field so beautiful, what do you think he will do for you? It’s just grass—one day it’s alive, and the next day someone throws it into a fire.
But God cares enough to make it beautiful. Surely he will do much more for you. Your faith is so small! Don’t worry and say, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?' or ‘What will we wear?’ That’s what those people who don’t know God are always thinking about.
Don’t worry, because your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things.
What you should want most is God’s kingdom and doing what he wants you to do. Then he will give you all these other things you need." (Matthew 6:25-34 ERV)
He KNOWS we need all these things.
The world is not in our hands. It's in His. So we can trust Him to bring in what we need and take care of everything else.
Your life is more than the things you're worried about. So making time to recharge and actually appreciate it is crucial.
(For more on this, you should definitely check out this series.)
Today's Action Step:
Do more nothing. Pick a section of your day to just spend time with people you love without an agenda. Sit in your favorite spot at home with your favorite drink with your favorite people around and do absolutely nothing but soak up that moment. Don't think about work or your to-do list. When will you do nothing? (Schedule it!)
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