S04E041, Resting Is Proactive! Andy B 2 Minute Video

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We love accomplishing things. Perhaps, like me, you use a digital To Do List. It is immensely satisfying clicking that little tick box, and having the satisfaction of having accomplished something else.

It can be addictive.

We can end up working so hard in order to have achieved something, that we miss out on the actual achieving!

We’re really good at being busy. The church excels at this, sadly. I think we sometimes feel that if we work really hard then, perhaps, God will love us more, or we’ll feel less guilty about something else.

And, yet, there is a pattern of working and resting that was set in stone by God, when He made the world in 6 days, resting on the 7th.

That cycle of working and resting is important!

During World War II, it was discovered that the human body can only go for so long, at a heightened state of ’working’ (in that case patrolling an enemy jungle) before the soldiers would simply drop down dead. They had been perfectly healthy, but as convenient as it was to have them patrol for longer, because it was so complicated to get soldiers in, and out of their patrol areas, it also wasn’t healthy for them.

It was realised that they actually do need periods of rest, in order to be able to function.

Many of us won’t have to work to those sorts of extremes. But the truth, and the principle doesn’t change.

Working without rest is, ultimately, very unhealthy on our bodies and our minds.

Which is why resting can be such a proactive part of our working.

Just a thought...

Andy B

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0:00
So, another Andy b 2 Minute Video, and I was thinking about how Resting Can Be quite Proactive. Maybe you've had a really, really busy day or you've got a really busy week ahead of you. And resting is one of those things that we kind of squish to one side.

0:18
I remember reading, a long, long time ago, about how people who work through their lunch breaks and they're, they're not actually helping themselves by working through the lunch breaks, 'cos it actually degrades their productivity. But we think, don't we, that, well, we'll just work for another 20 minutes in our lunch break, and then we'll get more work done. And you kind of do at the start. But, eventually, as we push those breaks away, almost, we become less productive.

0:45
Working from home. Never ending stream of little pops, and rings, and little notifications about what we've gotta be doing for our home life, and the car insurance, and our work, and it's never ending. So it can sometimes feel as though taking some time out of all that busyness is not really good, when you've got to get things done. And sure, there's a there's a time for pushing ahead. There is a time for getting the job done, no matter how tired you are. If you've got a flood in your house, you're not going to bypass that. However, if we've got a normal day, then actually taking time out of that day to rest is important.

1:25
God made the world in 6 days. On the 7th day He rested. There's a pattern of working, and resting. And God rested, so we should!

1:32
And at the times when Jesus was busiest, He also took time to rest. So don't feel, or allow, resting to become something that we push away from us. We need to remember that resting is a really proactive way of working. Because when we are resting, we are refreshing ourselves and enabling ourselves to do better at the working. So resting, sometimes, can be the best thing we can do to get the job done.

2:00
Just a thought.