Try Taking a Real Day Off
30.03.2014
Some of us struggle with workaholic tendencies. Taking a real day off is a personal challenge. In the Ten Commandments, one of them instructs us to take a day off of work.
Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. (Exodus 20:8-10)
Simple, but we have ingenious ways of discounting this day of rest. For example:
1. Don’t go in to work. Work from home, catch up on paperwork, get inbox to zero.
2. Don’t go in to work. Stay home and fill the day with chores and menial tasks.
3. Don’t go in to work. Go to church.
4. Don’t go in to work. Recharge in order to work harder the next six days.
Instead, why don’t we try this?
5. Don’t go in to work. Structure a day to be fully human and pursue delight.
The Sabbath is a day for immersing yourself in God’s Word, for reflection about your life, for leaning in towards God, for spending time with your family and friends, and for pursuing delight. Read a book. Take a walk in nature. Take up a new hobby. Why not, for one day, simply enjoy the life that God has given you?
In order to do this, we have to stop working for a day. It is also helpful to unplug electronically as much as possible, including television, computer, laptop, and mobile phone. If this sounds like an impossibility for you, consider whether your barriers to a day off are more internal or external.
You can choose any day of the week to be your Sabbath day, your real day off. What day will work best for you?